Subfamily GEKKONINAE - "True" Geckos

Scientific Name

Common Name

Distribution

Size

Notes

Perochirus

P. articulatus

Pohnpei (Caroline Islands)

TL 11 cm, SVL approx 4.5 cm

This species has latterly been synonymised with P. ateles. Boulenger distinguished it from depressus, guentheri and scutellatus in the following points: snout a little shorter and more convex; dorsal granules larger and coarser; belly covered with large juxtaposed granules; tail much narrower than the body; no femoral or preanal pores [this latter characteristic may have simply been due to the specimens available to Boulenger having no preanal-femoral pores, which can be the case with individual P. atelus]. Digits as in P. guentheri and depressus. Coloration: reddish brown above, uniform or marbled with dark brown. [SOURCE: Boulenger]

P. atelus

Micronesia Saw-Tailed Gecko

Western Micronesia including Pohnpei (Caroline Islands), the Mariana Islands and Marshall Islands, Truk and Guam

TL 15 cm, SVL 8 cm

Described by Zug as a forest inhabitant and nocturnal forager, resting during the day beneath bark or within leaf axils. Description: head conical, not distinct from neck; eyes moderate. Scalation details: 12 upper labials on each side of the rostral, which is higher than broad and extends on the upper part of the snout, the extremity of which is rather acute. Nostrils large. Mental narrow, triangular. Enlarged scutes on the chin, some of which are irregularly arranged in rows along the infralabials. Tail: depressed, the borders finely denticulated, covered with granulations same above and beneath and arranged in regular rings. No femoral pores (?). Coloration: brownish grey, darker on the tail, the borders of which, above and beneath, are of a rather vivid brown. Reproduction: adult males have 0-5 preanal pores: clutches of 2-3 eggs. [SOURCE: Boulenger, Taylor, Zug]

P. depressus

Fenfan Island (Caroline Islands)

SVL 8 cm

Differs from P. guentheri by the more depressed head and body, the still smaller abdominal scales, and the presence of four preanal pores only. [SOURCE: Boulenger]

P. guentheri

Giant Saw-Tailed Gecko

S Vanuatu (Erromango and Anatom)

TL 12 cm, SVL approx 7 cm 

This species is known from very few specimens, the last one having apparently been found in 1975. Boulenger considered this species to be very closely allied to P. ateles, from which it appears to differ in having the interdigital membrane shorter, the rostral broader than high, the mental trapezoid, and probably also in other characters when the types can be compared. Description: Head moderately depressed; snout obtusely conical, longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, once and two thirds the diameter of the orbit ; forehead concave ; ear-opening small, oval, oblique. Body moderately elongate, depressed. Limbs rather short, stout, depressed; digits short, with a rudiment of web, all but the rudimentary thumbs strongly dilated; the free phalanges of the fourth toe measuring the diameter of the eye. Scalation details: head covered with small granules, larger on the snout; rostral subquadrangular; with median cleft above, nearly twice as broad as high; nostril pierced between the rostral, the first labial, and three small nasals; ten upper and eight or nine lower labials; mental small, narrow, transverse; three or four rows of small hexagonal chin-shields, passing gradually into the minute granules of the throat. Upper surface of body and limbs covered with very small granules; abdominal scales very small, Male with ten femoral pores forming a short angular series. Tail very much depressed, as broad as the body, flat beneath, with sharpish lateral edges; latter denticulated when the organ is intact ; the upper surface covered with small juxtaposed scales, considerably larger than the granules of the back; the lower surface covered with larger, flat, slightly imbricated scales; the tail, when intact, is divided in rather distinct segments, each line of separation being indicated on the lateral edge by a large, pointed scale. Coloration: brown above, whitish beneath. [SOURCE: Boulenger, Zug]

P. scutellatus

Giant Saw-Tailed Gecko

Carolines Islands group: Tetau Island and Greenwich Island (Kapingamarangi Atoll)

TL approx 21.5 cm, SVL approx 9 cm 

Described by Zug as a forest inhabitant with a preference for larger trees. It is diurnal. Distinguished from P. guentheri in the following points: size larger; the free phalanges longer, that of the fourth toe measuring more than the diameter of the eye; anterior row of chin-shields larger, much longer than broad; a long series of fifty femoral pores, forming a right angle medially. 19-26 subdigital lamellae (terminal six or seven divided) on 4^th toes of hindfoot. Both sexes have preanal-femoral pores, males 47-52 and females 40-53), the pores of males also being larger. See Zug for further details of scalation. Tail: distinctly flattened, thick and lanceolate shaped with broad tip. Coloration: head, body and tail light greenish grey to dark grey or brown above with numerous irregular dark areas on head to and on to tail; venter uniformly greyish white to light greenish yellow. Skin tone can darken and lighten, obscuring markings in the process. [SOURCE: Boulenger, Zug]