A study of Hemidactylus angulatus Hallowell, 1854 in West and Central Africa (Sauria, Gekkonidae), with resurrection of Hemidactylus guineensis Peters, 1868

Abstract

We studied specimens of the Hemidactylus angulatus complex collected in 15 countries of West and Central Africa. Both meristic and molecular data show that rainforest populations of Hemidactylus angulatus s. l. differ from savanna and degraded forest populations. We attribute to Hemidactylus angulatus stricto sensu rainforest populations from Liberia, Nigeria, Gabon, and Congo-Brazzaville, and to Hemidactylus guineensis, a species previously synonymized with H. angulatus, the savanna and degraded forest populations distributed from Senegal to Benin.