Hemidactylus Oken, 1817

Bauer, Aaron M., Tchibozo, Sévérin, Pauwels, Olivier S. G. & Lenglet, Georges, 2006, A review of the gekkotan lizards of Bénin, with the description of a new species of Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae), Zootaxa 1242, pp. 1-20 : 8

Hemidactylus Oken, 1817

Hemidactylus is the dominant gekkonid genus in West Africa. Nonetheless, relatively few species are known from the region in comparison with other parts of the continent, most notably the Horn of Africa ( Lanza 1983; Bauer 1993). The genus as a whole is nearly pantropical and also occurs in warm temperate regions. It is a hugely successful group, with at least 84 recognized species ( Kluge 2001; Bauer and Pauwels 2002; Henle and Böhme 2003; Baha El Din 2003, 2005; Bauer et al., in press), making it the second most speciose of all gekkonid genera. Henle and Böhme (2003) recognized ten species in West Africa: H. mabouia (Moureau de Jonnés), H. brooki (= H. angulatus Hallowell ), H. matschiei (Tornier) , H. fasciatus Gray , H. ansorgii Boulenger , H. richardsonii (Gray) , H. kamdemtohami Bauer & Pauwels , H. echinus O’Shaughnessy , H. muriceus Peters and H. pseudomuriceus Henle & Böhme. An eleventh species has recently been described from northern Cameroon (Bauer et al., in press). We here confirm the presence of five of these from the territory of Bénin and consider another two Hemidactylus as probable. In addition, among our collections are two specimens not referable to any named species, which we describe here as new.