Pachydactylus austeni

Pachydactylus austeni, also known as Austen's thick-toed gecko or Austen's gecko, is a species of small thick-toed gecko that is indigenous to the western coast of South Africa.[3]

Pachydactylus austeni
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Gekkonidae
Genus: Pachydactylus
Species:
P. austeni
Binomial name
Pachydactylus austeni
Hewitt, 1923[2]

Etymology

The specific name, austeni, is in honour of English topographer Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen.[4]

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.[3]

Description

P. austeni has a smooth, colourful body with large eyes and conspicuous yellow or white eyelids.[3]

References
  1. Bauer, A.M. 2017. Pachydactylus austeni. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T196930A110332486. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-1.RLTS.T196930A110332486.en. Downloaded on 16 July 2018.
  2. "Pachydactylus austeni ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2010-11-30.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. 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
  • Branch, Bill. 2004. Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. ISBN 0-88359-042-5. (Pachydactylus austeni, pp. 250–251 + Plate 82).
  • Hewitt J. 1923. "Descriptions of Two New S. African Geckos of the Genus Pachydactylus ". Annals of the Natal Museum 5: 67-71. (Pachydactylus austeni, new species, pp. 67–69 + Plate IV, figures 1 & 2).
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