Gekkonidae

Tokay Gecko ( Gekko gecko )

Geckos ( Gekkonidae ) are a family of Squamata ( Squamata ). They populate since about 50 million years ago the earth and have spread throughout its development worldwide. Due to their excellent adaptability, geckos have taken a variety of habitats and are both in the temperate zones and in the deserts of the world, but especially to be found in the tropics. There they have brought it to a large variety of species.

Features

Geckos are small to medium-sized lizard that between 1.6 cm ( Sphaerodactylus ariasae ) and almost 40 cm can be large, and presumably originating from New Zealand and probably only in the late 19th century extinct Kawekaweau Gecko Hoplodactylus delcourti a body length of about 60 cm reached. A similar size reached the extinct around 1840 Rodrigues Giant Gecko Phelsuma gigas. Most ( about 75 %) are crepuscular or nocturnal animals adapted accordingly with inconspicuous coloring and a night activity slit pupil. A gecko species, namely the helmet gecko ( Tarentola chazaliae ), is the only vertebrate species, of which we know that they can recognize colors at night. This property have the Geckos owe their extremely light-sensitive eyes. The cones of the retina of the helmet geckos are about 350 times more sensitive to light than that of the human eye in dim light, according to researchers at the University of Lund in Sweden.

Sometimes the shy nocturnal and usually very nimble animals bask in the early dawn or during the day, as do most members of the genus day geckos like. The latter are in contrast to their nocturnal relatives colored eye-catching and have a round pupil.

A further sub- division at the geckos refers to their toes. A rough division can be done in fins and claws geckos geckos. Geckos of the first group can thanks to perfect adhesion through their billions of tiny hairs ( spatulae, about 200 nanometers wide and long) occupied feet, where they avail themselves of the van der Waals forces, even run upside down on glass. The adhesiveness of geckos is enhanced by moisture in the nanometer range. There are six divisions alone in the classification of the feet.

Genera

To the family of Gekkonidae include the genera listed below with 902 known species (as of 15 February 2012):

  • Afroedura Loveridge, 1944
  • African Gecko Bauer, Good & Branch, 1997
  • Agamura Blanford, 1874
  • Ailuronyx Fitzinger, 1843
  • Geradfingergeckos ( Alsophylax ) ( Fitzinger, 1834)
  • Asiocolotes Kluge, 1994
  • Bunopus Blanford, 1874
  • Calodactylodes Bauer & Günther, 1991
  • Carinatogecko Golubev & Shcherbak, 1981
  • Chondrodactylus Peters, 1870 Bibrons thick-toed gecko ( Chondrodactylus bibronii )
  • Beet tail Viper Gecko ( Hemidactylus imbricatus ) ( Bauer et al., 2008)
Gekkota John Edward Gray Phylogenetics Cnemaspis Bibron's gecko Cyrtodactylus Homopholis Lepidodactylus Lygodactylus Paroedura Ptychozoon Digital Object Identifier
363393
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