Pachydactylus austeni

Pachydactylus austeni
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Sauria
Infraorder: Gekkota
Family: Gekkonidae
Subfamily: Gekkoninae
Genus: Pachydactylus
Species: P. austeni
Binomial name
Pachydactylus austeni
Hewitt, 1923[1]

Pachydactylus austeni, commonly known as Austen's thick-toed gecko, is a species of small thick-toed gecko that is indigenous to the western coast of South Africa.[2]

Etymology

The specific name, austeni, is in honour of English topographer Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen.[3]

Habitat and behaviour

The natural habitat of P. austeni is coastal dunes, where it lives in a tiny burrow that it digs in the sand and forages at night for small insects among the dune vegetation.[2]

Description

P. austeni has a smooth, colourful body with large eyes and conspicuous yellow or white eyelids.[2]

References

  1. "Pachydactylus austeni ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  2. 1 2 3 http://www.capenature.co.za/projects.htm?sm%5Bp1%5D%5Bcategory%5D=391&sm%5Bp1%5D%5Bpersistent%5D=1&
  3. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Pachydactylus austeni, p. 13).

Further reading

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