What is this species?

[Aquila]

She is from Libya. I think she is some kind of Pachydactylus.

 

[eyelids]

Looks like Pachydactylus bibronii, Bibron's Gecko.

 

[BalloonzForU]

aawwww that's soo cute!!!! Me Like!!!!

 

[Aquila]

Looks like Pachydactylus bibronii, Bibron's Gecko.

But why she is pink-orange? I never see bibronii with this coloration.
And this gecko is caught in north Africa(Libya), bibronii is native to southern Africa.
I'm very confused :main_huh:

 

[GeckoStud]

A lot of those guys look similar and I wouldn't be very suprised to see them in N. Africa. Just look at all of Florida's "immigrants."

 

[Aquila]

In one other forum, define her like Tarentola.

 

[David Loftin]

I would say for certain tarentola mauritanica. They are DEFINETLY found in North Africa. I think the "common name" they go by is either Crocodile Gecko or Moorish Gecko.

 

[David Loftin]

P.S. Thank you for the quality and quantity of pictures. It makes identifying animals a lot easier.

 

[brandy101010]

That is a very cute gecko!

 

[GeckoStud]

Yeah now that you mention it, it does look more like a moorish gecko. I can't believe I didn't notice it.

 

[Aquila]

I used the book, “Amphibians and Reptiles of North Africa†by Schleich, Kastle, and Kabisch. 1996. Koeltz Scientific Books. Germany.

According to this book, the Tarentola species of Libya are: T. annularis, T. deserti, T. mauritanica, T. neglecta (barely). Annularis is grayish with four white spots on the back. T. mauritanica is also variably grayish. T. deserti is unique in its bright beige color with, importantly, yellowish eyes rather than the gray eyes of all the other species. T. neglecta is most similar, but differs in smaller size and different face pattern. The book does not specify eye color of neglecta. To be absolutely certain it is not neglecta, I need a picture of the dorsal surface, preferably next to a ruler. Here are some scans from the book:





T. deserti has often been consider a subspecies of T. mauritanica. However, the genetic phylogeny by Carranza et. al. (2002) indicates that these two are genetically unrelated and are thus good species. Also, deserti occurs in sympatry with mauritanica.

Cheers,
Nick

:main_yes:

 

[HepCatMoe]

wow, good find aquila/slygecko