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House gecko

Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818)

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.

Open encyclopedia reference

The tropical house gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia), also called the cosmopolitan house gecko, is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is native to sub-Saharan Africa. However, it is also found in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean, where it has been inadvertently introduced by humans.

Wikipedia contributors, Tropical house gecko; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:19:02.620104+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818)
Name authority
(Moreau de Jonnès, 1818)
Common name
House gecko
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.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
  9. orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
  10. suborderGekkota
  11. familyGekkonidae
  12. genusHemidactylus
  13. speciesHemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Hemidactylus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Aaron Bauer’s House GeckoHemidactylus aaronbaueri Giri, 2008GekkonidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Hemidactylus acanthopholis Mirza & Sanap, 2014GekkonidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Hemidactylus albivertebralis Trape & Böhme, 2012GekkonidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
White Leaf-toed GeckoHemidactylus albopunctatus (Loveridge, 1947)GekkonidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Nigeria Leaf-toed GeckoHemidactylus ansorgii Boulenger, 1901GekkonidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Annobon Leaf-toed GeckoHemidactylus aporus Boulenger, 1906GekkonidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Hemidactylus aquilonius Mcmahan & Zug, 2007GekkonidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Barbieri’s Turkana GeckoHemidactylus barbierii Sindaco, Razzetti & Ziliani, 2007GekkonidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Hemidactylus beninensis Bauer, Tchibozo, Pauwels & Lenglet, 2006GekkonidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Bioko Leaf-toed GeckoHemidactylus biokoensis Wagner, Leaché & Fujita, 2014GekkonidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Amaral's Brazilian GeckoHemidactylus brasilianus (Amaral, 1935)GekkonidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Hedgehog Leaf-toed GeckoHemidactylus echinus O'Shaughnessy, 1875GekkonidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 1,242 records assigned to Gekkonidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Hemidactylus tasmani Hewitt, 1932 Hewitt, 1932ambiguous synonym
Hemidactylus sakalava Grandidier, 1867 Grandidier, 1867ambiguous synonym
Hemidactylus benguellensis Bocage, 1893 Bocage, 1893ambiguous synonym
Gekko armatus Wied, 1824 Wied, 1824synonym
Gekko incanescens Wied, 1825 Wied, 1825synonym
Gekko incanescens Wied, 1824 Wied, 1824synonym
Gekko mabouia Moreau de Jonnès, 1818 Moreau de Jonnès, 1818synonym
Hemidactylus (Tachybates) armatus Fitzinger, 1843 Fitzinger, 1843synonym
Hemidactylus (Tachybates) mabuya Fitzinger, 1843 Fitzinger, 1843synonym
Hemidactylus exaspis Cope, 1868 Cope, 1868synonym
Hemidactylus tuberculosus Fitzinger, 1826 Fitzinger, 1826synonym
Gecko aculeatus Spix, 1825 Spix, 1825synonym
Gecko cruciger Spix, 1825 Spix, 1825synonym
Hemidactylus mercatorius Gray, 1842 Gray, 1842ambiguous synonym
Hemidactylus platycephalus Peters, 1854 Peters, 1854ambiguous synonym
Hemidactylus frenatus var. calabaricus Boettger, 1878 Boettger, 1878synonym
Gecko tuberculosus Raddi, 1823 Raddi, 1823synonym
Hemidactylus mandanus Loveridge, 1936 Loveridge, 1936ambiguous synonym
Hemidactylus gardineri Boulenger, 1909 Boulenger, 1909ambiguous synonym
Hemidactylus persimilis Barbour & Loveridge, 1928 Barbour & Loveridge, 1928ambiguous synonym
Gecko mabuia Cuvier, 1829 Cuvier, 1829synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Africa: Mali, Senegal, Central African Republic, W/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Ghana, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Guinea (Conakry), Republic of South Africa (Eastern Cape etc.), Zimbabwe (Driefontein, Mission/Zimba), Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Gabon (BOULENGER 1900), Ethiopia, Eritrea, Cameroon, Eswatini (Swaziland), Mozambique, Sao Tome, Principé (Gulf of Guinea), Chad (L. Chirio/MNHN), Namibia, Angola, Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Equatorial Guinea, Uganda, Saint Helena, Malawi

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.

  1. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Hemidactylus&species=mabouia 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

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:6LPQG. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.