Turner's thick-toed gecko explained

Turner's thick-toed gecko (Chondrodactylus turneri) is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is endemic to southern Africa.

Etymology

The specific name, turneri, is in honor of British entomologist James Aspinall Turner.^[1]

Geographic range

C. turneri is found in Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.^[2]

Description

C. turneri is large and robust, with a snout-vent length (SVL) of 10cm (00inches).

Behaviour

Turner's thick-toed gecko is nocturnal and lives on rocks and buildings.^[3]

Diet

C. turneri is an ambush predator and feeds on invertebrates and whatever else it can catch and overpower.^[3]

Reproduction

C. turneri 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 turneri, pp. 254–255 + Plate 84).
• Eifler MA, Marchand R, Eifler DA, Malela K (2017). "Habitat Use and Activity Patterns in the Nocturnal Gecko, Chondrodactylus turneri ". Herpetologica 73 (1): 43–47.
• Gramentz D (2004). "Das Antiprädationsverhalten von Pachydactylus turneri (GRAY 1864)". Sauria 26 (2): 37–41. (in German).
• Gramentz D (2005). "Zur Ökologie und Ethologie von Pachydactylus turneri (GRAY, 1864) in Zentral Namibia". Sauria 27 (2): 17–22. (in German).
• Gray JE (1864). "Notes on some New Lizards from South-Eastern Africa, with the Descriptions of several New Species". Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Third Series 14: 380–384. (Homodactylus turneri, new species, pp. 381–382).
• Rösler H (2000). "Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha)". Gekkota 2: 28–153, (Pachydactylus turneri, p. 100). (in German).
• Spawls, Stephen; Howell, Kim; Hinkel, Harald; Menegon, Michele (2018). Field Guide to East African Reptiles, Second Edition. London: Bloomsbury Natural History. 624 pp. .

Notes and References

1. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Pachydactylus turneri, p. 269).
2. Branch (2004).
3. Alexander, Graham; Marais, Johan (2007). A Guide to the Reptiles of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik. 408 pp. . (Chondrodactylus turneri, pp. 311-313).