Hemidactylus is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 of typical gecko

Gecko

Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm....

s, Gekkonidae. It is the second-most speciose genus in the family, with about 90 described species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

, newfound ones being described every few years. These geckos are found in all the tropical regions of the world, extending into the subtropical parts of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. They excel in colonizing ocean

Ocean

An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...

ic islands by raft

Raft

A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is the most basic of boat design, characterized by the absence of a hull...

ing on flotsam, and are for example found across most of Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...

. In some archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

es, cryptic species complex

Cryptic species complex

In biology, a cryptic species complex is a group of species which satisfy the biological definition of species—that is, they are reproductively isolated from each other—but whose morphology is very similar ....

es are found.

They are typically known as house geckos, due to their readiness to adapt to and coexist with humans. This genus was originally established by Lorenz Oken

Lorenz Oken

Lorenz Oken was a German naturalist.Oken was born Lorenz Okenfuss in Bohlsbach in Baden and studied natural history and medicine at the universities of Freiburg and Würzburg. He went on to the University of Göttingen, where he became a Privatdozent , and shortened his name to Oken...

 in 1817 for the species at that time known as Hemidactylus tuberculosus, and now described as the Tropical House Gecko

Tropical house gecko

The Tropical house gecko, Afro-American house gecko or Cosmopolitan house gecko is a species of house gecko native to sub-Saharan Africa...

 (Hemidactylus mabouia).

Description

The dorsal lepidosis is either uniform or heterogeneous. The pupil of the eye is vertical. Males have pre-anal or femoral pore

Femoral pore

Femoral pores are a part of a holocrine secretory gland found on the inside of the thighs of certain lizards and amphisbaenians which releases pheromones to attract mates or mark territory. In certain species only the male has these pores and in other species, both sexes have them, with the males...

s. Each finger or toe has a slender distal clawed joint

Joint

A joint is the location at which two or more bones make contact. They are constructed to allow movement and provide mechanical support, and are classified structurally and functionally.-Classification:...

, angularly bent and rising from within the extremity of the dilated portion.

The fingers and toes are free, or more or less webbed, and dilated; underneath they bear two rows of lamellae in a pattern resembling a paripinnate compound leaf. This leads to their other and more ambiguous common name, "leaf-toed gecko

Leaf-toed gecko

Xantus Leaf-toed Gecko, or Leaf-toed gecko, refers to the species Phyllodactylus xanti, a gecko found in California and Mexico. It has vertical pupils, immovable eyelids, and leaf-like toe pads...

s", used mainly for species from South Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

 and its surroundings to prevent confusion with the many "leaf-toed" Gekkota

Gekkota

Gekkota is an infraorder of reptiles in the suborder Scleroglossa, comprising all geckos and the limbless Pygopodidae. The legless lizards of the family Dibamidae are also referred to as blind lizards but recent molecular phylogenies suggest they are not gekkotans.Gekkota are a suborder of...

not in Hemidactylus.

Species