Subfamily EUBLEPHARIDAE - Eyelid Geckos

QUICK INDEX

Holodactylus africanus, African Clawed Gecko

Holodactylus cornii

Scientific Name 

Common Name 

Distribution

Size 

Notes 

Holodactylus

H. africanus

African Clawed Gecko (aka Dwarf Fat-Tailed Gecko, Somali-Masai Clawed Gecko)

East Africa (SE Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, NE Tanzania)

Up to 4"

This is a slow-moving, terrestrial gecko. Originally described in Somalia in 1893, it was only found in Tanzania in 1971. It occurs in a wide variety of habitats within the low-lying semi-desert deciduous bushland found in Kenya, on the Ethiopian border and in Tanzania, and in Somalia near the mouth of the Juba River, by the Red Sea, on the Djibouti border and possibly in SE Ethiopia. It seems that this species feeds heavily on termites, which only abound at certain periods tied with rainfall: hence at other times it is inactive, which may account for the prior infrequency of sightings and also the wide difference in tail measurements recorded, if the tail is used as fat storage. Apart from termites it is also known to prey on various beetles. Specimens collected have been found in sandy washes in the wild, and Loveridge recorded an observation that the species “crawls about . These lizards like to burrow, so substrate should be appropriate for this or else a humidified shelter added. See deVosjoli for more details. Description: upper surface of head convex; snout subtriangular, as long as, or slightly longer than, distance between eye and ear opening; ear opening small, vertically suboval, small white tubercle on anterior border; adpressed hind limb reaches wrist or elbow of backward pressed forelimb. Scalation details: entire body covered in uniformly sized granules, no enlarged tubercles. There is however some variation according to the region of origin of the individual specimen (see Laurent). Lacks toe pads. Rostral subquadrangular, not quite twice as broad as high, with median cleft above or upper border emarginate with a single scale in the emargination, separated from nasal by 1-3 granules; nostril in an entire or semidivided circular nasal which is reduced above to a narrow rim margined by small scales, separated from the rostral and 1^st labial by 1-3 scales; 8-14 supralabials, 8-15 infralabials: 1-5 internasals; mental subquadrangular, subpentagonal, or rounded posteriorly; no postmentals or chin shields differentiated from the minute gular granules; ventral granules slightly smaller than the dorsal; on either side of the anal opening posteriorly a pair of enlarged conical tubercles. Coloration: dorsally a rich chestnut- to reddish-brown, with 4-5 light brown transverse wavy bands on the back and 2-3 on the tail. One on the nape of the neck divides, each "prong" running through and below the eye on either side before meeting up at and covering the snout. There may also be a very pale, almost white vertebral stripe. Ventral surfaces are white. [SOURCE: Laurent, Loveridge, Spawls et al] B I

H. cornii

African Clawed Gecko

East Africa (NE Somalia)

Up to 4"

Description: upper surface of head convex; adpressed hind limb reaches elbow or axilla of backward pressed forelimb. Scalation details: rostral separated from nasal by 5-7 granules; 13-18 supralabials, 15-18 infralabials: 5-7 internasals. Coloration: dorsally whitish, greyish or yellowish; canthus rostralis lighter; from tip of snout to tip of tail a pale vertebral line flanked by broad brown stripes which are most distinct on occiput, nape and tail, especially where crossing the following series of broad dark transverse bands, the latter separated from one another by narrow interspaces, one across the snout, one across the orbital region and extending on to lower jaw, one across the occiput, one on the neck, four on the body that are somewhat curved posteriorly, and three on the tail, the last broadest; flanks and limbs with scattered circular brown spots; ventrally whitish, uniform. [SOURCE: Laurent, Loveridge] B I