Hemiphyllodactylus typus Bleeker, 1860

Figueroa, Alex, Low, Martyn E. Y. & Lim, Kelvin K. P., 2023, Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution, Zootaxa 5287 (1), pp. 1-378 : 115-116

Hemiphyllodactylus typus Bleeker, 1860 — Native.

Hemiphyllodactylus typus Bleeker, 1860: 327–328 . Holotype: BMNH 1946.8.30.83 , by original designation. Type locality: “Agam”, Sumatra, Indonesia .

Lowland Dwarf Gecko

( Figure 14A ; Dairy Farm Nature Park)

Singapore records.

Lepidodactylus ceylonensis — Flower, 1896: 867 (Headquarter House [= Fort Canning]).— Flower, 1899: 631 (Government House [= Fort Canning]).—Ridley, 1899:206.— Boulenger, 1912:49.—Sworder, 1925a: 64.

Hemiphyllodactylus typus — K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 121 ( Upper Peirce Forest [ UPWF]).— K.K. P. Lim, 1993a: I, 4 (Mandai Mangroves; Sime Road Forest; Upper Peirce Reservoir).—R. Subaraj, 1994: 13 (Sime Road Forest; Upper Peirce East).—R. Subaraj et al., 1995: 4 (Lornie Track; Lower Peirce Reservoir).—K.K.P. Lim, 1996: 51 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).— Manthey & Grossmann, 1997: 239.—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 25.—P.K.L. Ng & Sivasothi, 1999: 146.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 150.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 82, 160 (Western Catchment).—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2008: 265.— Das, 2010: 223.— Zug, 2010: 35, 60.—L.L. Grismer, 2011a: 133.—L.L. Grismer, 2011b: 507, 510.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 82, 160.—Thomas, 2013: 70 (Bidadari Park).— Tay & Wind, 2013: 101 (Pasir Ris Park Mangroves).—Chan-ard et al., 2015: 71.—R. Subaraj, 2015: 52 (Project Western Boundary [= MBP]).—S. Subaraj, 2015: 4 (Project Western Boundary [= MBP]).—E.K. Chua, 2015: 116.—M.F.C. Ng, 2017a: 135 ( Singapore Botanic Gardens).— R.C.H. Teo & Thomas, 2019: 147, 158, 180 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve; Pulau Ubin; Western Catchment).— Janssen & Sy, 2022: 98, 162.

Hemiphyllodactylus typus typus — Smith, 1935: 108.— Biswas & Sanyal, 1977: 111.— Denzer & Manthey, 1991: 315.—R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997: 391 (MacRitchie North Forest; Nee Soon South [ NSSF]; Sime Road Forest).

“ Hemiphyllodactylus ” —P.K.L. Ng et al., 2011: 323.

Remarks. Flower (1896, 1899b) first recorded H. typus from Singapore from two individuals he collected at Fort Canning. Hemiphyllodactylus typus then went unrecorded in Singapore for 94 years ( Table 2 ) until a photograph of ZRC.2.3282 collected on 24 October 1991 at UPR was illustrated in Lim & Lim (1992). Then, a couple of years later one was found at SRF on 7 May 1993, and two others were found at MM and UPR ( Lim 1993a). These records indicated that H. typus was wide-ranging throughout Singapore, but Baker & Lim (2012) classified its distribution as restricted to known localities ( CNR, MM, and WC). Subsequently, H. typus was found at Bidadari Park (Thomas 2013), PRPM (Tay & Wind 2013), Mandai (R. Subaraj 2015), SBG (Ng 2017a), PU (Teo & Thomas 2019), and DFNP ( Fig. 14A ), KM, Tengah Forest , and Woodlands North Coast (A. Figueroa pers. obs.).

Occurrence. Wide-ranging. Uncommon.

Singapore conservation status. Near-Threatened.

Conservation priority. Moderate.

IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2021].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): BMNH 1896.6 .25.11 (no date); Bukit Timah Nature Reserve: ZRC.2.5622 (31-Dec-2002); Hillview : ZRC.2.6596 (07-Nov-2007) ; Kent Ridge Campus [ NUS]: ZRC.2.3469 (11-Jan-1996) ; Lower Peirce Forest : ZRC.2.5415 (04-May-2002) ; Mandai Mangroves : ZRC.2.2291 (15-Apr-1983) ; Poyan : ZRC.2.6021– ZRC.2.6022 (17-Jan-2004) ; Sime Road Forest: ZRC.2.3378 (07-May-1993) ; ZRC.2.5385– ZRC.2.5387 (19-Jan-2002) , ZRC.2.5416 (04-May- 2002); Upper Peirce Reservoir : ZRC.2.3282 (24-Oct-1991).

Additional Singapore museum specimens. No specimens.

Singapore localities. Bidadari Park—Bukit Timah Nature Reserve—Dairy Farm Nature Park—Fort Canning— Hillview—Kranji Marshes—Lower Peirce Reservoir Park—MacRitchie—Mandai Bird Park—Mandai Mangroves—National University of Singapore Kent Ridge Campus—Nee Soon Swamp Forest—Pasir Ris Park Mangroves—Poyan—Pulau Ubin—Sime Road Forest— Singapore Botanic Gardens—Tengah Forest—Upper Peirce Reservoir—Upper Peirce West Forest—Woodlands North Coast.

Genus Lepidodactylus Fitzinger, 1843 (1 species)

Lepidodactylus Fitzinger, 1843: 19 , 98 (type species: Platydactylus lugubris Duméril & Bibron, 1836 , by original designation; gender masculine).

Figures

FIGURE 14. A) Hemiphyllodactylus typus, B) Lepidodactylus lugubris, C) Iguana iguana, D) Dasia grisea, E) Dasia olivacea, F) Emoia atrocostata, G) Eutropis multifasciatus, and H) Eutropis rugifera. Photographs by: Alex Figueroa [A, G], Holly Siow [B], Kelvin K.P. Lim [C], Law Ing Sind [D, H], Chloe Tan [E], and Nick Baker [F].