01 September 2014

Heyden’s Gecko – Record by Masur Al Fahad


Mansur Al Fahad kindly sent me the following photograph and details and has allowed me to use them on my website. The Heyden’s Gecko Hemidactylus robustus is rare in Zulfi but is a common house gecko in the southern Red Sea around Jizan as well as the Horn of Africa east to Oman up to Arabian Red Sea cost. It is found in the desert near farms in central Arabia but is not seen in houses in Zulfi although is often seen on wall in the Jeddah area. This species ranges from Zanzibar in East Africa through Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti along the Red Sea coast of Sudan and southern Egypt, much of the Arabian Peninsula east to Iran and Pakistan. It is a coastal species generally found at sea level. It is found in coastal areas around the Red Sea, Hadhramaut (Yemen), and the southern Arabian littoral zone as far as the eastern United Arab Emirates, southern Iran and Pakistan. It is found in coastal salt marshes under halophytic vegetation, in mangroves, under coastal debris, and on traditional buildings. It is generally not found in rocky area and is an egg-laying species.