Pachydactylus punctatus Peters, 1854

Ceríaco, L. M. P., De Sá, S., Bandeira, S., Valério, H., Stanley, E. L., Kuhn, A. L., Marques, M. P., Vindum, J. V., Blackburn, D. C. & Bauer, A. M., 2016, Herpetological Survey of Iona National Park and Namibe Regional Natural Park, with a Synoptic List of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Namibe Province, Southwestern Angola, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 63 (2), pp. 15-61 : 26

SPECKLED THICK-TOED GECKO

Pachydactylus punctatus Peters, 1854

MATERIAL.— INP, 29 November 2013, 16º39ʹ24.1ʺS, 12º26ʹ12.2ʺE, 460 m ( CAS 254781– 254784 ) ; Espinheira, 29 November 2013, 16º47ʹ11.01ʺS, 12º21ʹ28.77ʺE, 457 m ( CAS 254799– 254800 ) , 16º47ʹ7.02ʺS, 12º21ʹ16.86ʺE, 457 m ( CAS 254806 ) ; 16º47ʹ4.2ʺS, 12º21ʹ16.62ʺE, 457 m ( CAS 254809–254810 ) , 16º47ʹ12.71ʺS, 12º21ʹ28.67ʺE, 457 m ( CAS 254812 ) , 16º47ʹ20.3ʺS, 12º21ʹ27.6ʺE, 457 m ( CAS 254960 ) .

COMMENTS.— The species is known from southwestern Angola in the provinces of Benguela (Bocage 1867, 1895; Boulenger 1885; Hellmich 1957b; Laurent 1954), Huila ( Monard 1931, 1937, Laurent 1964a), Cunene (Laurent 1964a), and Namibe ( Schmidt 1933, Laurent 1964a). Members of the P. punctatus complex have been confused with other southern African Pachydactylus , including P. occellatus and P. geitje (Bocage 1867, 1885, 1895; Boulenger 1905; Frade 1963). The previous report of P. serval in Angola ( Monard 1931) likely corresponds to P. punctatus . A phylogeographic study of P. punctatus is being currently undertaken ( Heinz 2011) and it appears that this taxon comprises multiple unnamed cryptic species. At least two, possibly three, taxa in this complex occur in southwestern Angola. Pachydactylus punctatus sensu lato is the most common terrestrial gecko in most of northern Namibia as well as southern Angola.