Pachydactylus austeni explained

Pachydactylus austeni, also known commonly as Austen's thick-toed gecko or Austen's gecko, is a species of small thick-toed gecko, a lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is indigenous to the western coast of South Africa.

Etymology

The specific name, austeni, is in honour of English topographer Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen.^[1]

Habitat, behaviour and diet

The natural habitat of P. austeni is coastal dunes and alluvial sands, at elevations up to 600m (2,000feet). It lives in a tiny burrow that it digs in the sand, and it leaves its burrow at night to forage for small insects among the dune vegetation.

Description

P. austeni has a smooth, colourful body with large eyes and conspicuous yellow or white eyelids.^[2]

Reproduction

P. austeni is oviparous.

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. . (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).
• Loveridge A (1947). "Revision of the African Lizards of the Family Gekkonidae". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College 98 (1): 1–469 + Plates 1–7. (Pachydactylus austeni, p. 349).
• Rösler H (2000). "Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha)". Gekkota 2: 28–153. (Pachydactylus austeni, p. 98). (in German).

Notes and References

1. [Richard Allen "Bo" Crombet-Beolens|Beolens B]
2. Web site: CapeNature . 2010-11-30 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110724015422/http://www.capenature.co.za/projects.htm?sm%5Bp1%5D%5Bcategory%5D=391&sm%5Bp1%5D%5Bpersistent%5D=1& . 2011-07-24 .