Smith's bent-toed gecko

Smith's bent-toed gecko
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Gekkonidae
Genus:	Hemidactylus
Species:	H. malcolmsmithi
Binomial name
Hemidactylus malcolmsmithi (Constable, 1949)
Synonyms[2]
Gymnodactylus malcolmsmithi Constable, 1949 Cyrtodactylus malcolmsmithi — Underwood, 1954 Hemidactylus malcolmsmithi — Agarwal, Giri & Bauer, 2018

Smith's bent-toed gecko (Hemidactylus malcolmsmithi), also known commonly as Malcolm's bow-fingered gecko, is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is endemic to India.

Taxonomy

H. malcolmsmithi was originally described in the genus Gymnodactylus. It is sometimes placed in the genus Cyrtodactylus.

Etymology

The specific name, malcolmsmithi, is in honor of British herpetologist Malcolm Arthur Smith.^[3]

Geographic range

H. malcolmsmithi is found in northern India, in the Indian state of Punjab.^[2]

The type locality is "Beas River basin, Punjab, India".^[4]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of H. malcolmsmithi are shrubland and forest.^[1]

Description

A small species for its genus, H. malcolmsmithi has a maximum recorded snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 5.4 cm (2.1 in). It has a series of 10–14 femoral pores on the ventral surface of each thigh, the two series being separated by two poreless scales.^[2]

Reproduction

H. malcolmsmithi is oviparous.^[2]

References

1. Khan, M.S. (2010). "Hemidactylus malcolmsmithi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T178497A7558883. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T178497A7558883.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
2. Species Hemidactylus malcolmsmithi at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Cyrtodactylus malcolmsmithi, p. 247).
4. Constable (1949).

Further reading

• Agarwal I, Giri VB, Bauer AM (2018). "On the Status of Cyrtodactylus malcolmsmithi (Constable, 1949)" Breviora (557): 1–11. (Hemidactylus malcolmsmithi, new combination).
• Constable, John D. (1949). "Reptiles from the Indian Peninsula in the Museum of Comparative Zoology". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 103 (2): 59–160. (Gymnodactylus malcolmsmithi, new species, pp. 80–82).
• Underwood, Garth (1954). "On the classification and evolution of geckos". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 124 (3): 469–492. (Cyrtodactylus malcolmsmithi, new combination).