NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Hemidactylus mercatorius Gray, 1842
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Farquhar half-toed gecko (Hemidactylus mercatorius), Anja Community Reserve, Madagascar
Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The merchant gecko (Hemidactylus mercatorius) is a species of gecko. There has been confusion between it and Hemidactylus mabouia, making it difficult to establish the ranges of the species. While the Reptile Database gives Hemidactylus mercatorius a wide distribution in eastern Africa, the IUCN restricts its native distribution to Madagascar and some other islands in the Indian Ocean (the Comoros, Seychelles, Mayotte).
Wikipedia contributors, Hemidactylus mercatorius; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T14:31:16.674783+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Hemidactylus mercatorius Gray, 1842
- Name authority
- Gray, 1842
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Gekkonidae
- Genus
- Hemidactylus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderGekkota
- familyGekkonidae
- genusHemidactylus
- speciesHemidactylus mercatorius Gray, 1842
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Hemidactylus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Aaron Bauer’s House GeckoHemidactylus aaronbaueri Giri, 2008 | GekkonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hemidactylus acanthopholis Mirza & Sanap, 2014 | GekkonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hemidactylus albivertebralis Trape & Böhme, 2012 | GekkonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| White Leaf-toed GeckoHemidactylus albopunctatus (Loveridge, 1947) | GekkonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Nigeria Leaf-toed GeckoHemidactylus ansorgii Boulenger, 1901 | GekkonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Annobon Leaf-toed GeckoHemidactylus aporus Boulenger, 1906 | GekkonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hemidactylus aquilonius Mcmahan & Zug, 2007 | GekkonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Barbieri’s Turkana GeckoHemidactylus barbierii Sindaco, Razzetti & Ziliani, 2007 | GekkonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hemidactylus beninensis Bauer, Tchibozo, Pauwels & Lenglet, 2006 | GekkonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bioko Leaf-toed GeckoHemidactylus biokoensis Wagner, Leaché & Fujita, 2014 | GekkonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Amaral's Brazilian GeckoHemidactylus brasilianus (Amaral, 1935) | GekkonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hedgehog Leaf-toed GeckoHemidactylus echinus O'Shaughnessy, 1875 | GekkonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Hemidactylus mandanus Loveridge, 1936 Loveridge, 1936 | ambiguous synonym |
| Hemidactylus gardineri Boulenger, 1909 Boulenger, 1909 | ambiguous synonym |
| Hemidactylus persimilis Barbour & Loveridge, 1928 Barbour & Loveridge, 1928 | ambiguous synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Hemidactylus&species=mercatorius Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3KNCW. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.