Hemidactylus frenatus
Duméril and Bibron, 1836
heh-mee-DAK-til-us — freh-NAY-tus
SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
Native to southeastern Asia from Pakistan east to Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and New Guinea. It is established in Florida (Meshaka et al., 1994, Herpetological Review 25: 127–128; Krysko, 2019, Hemidactylus frenatus. Pages 326–327 in Krysko et al. (Editors) Amphibians and Reptiles of Florida. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida), Hawai'i (Hunsaker and Breese, 1967, Pacific Science 21: 423–428), and Texas (McAllister et al., 1990, Journal of the Helminthological Society of Washington 57: 1–4).
(Krysko, Kenneth and Travis W. Taggart. 2025. Established Exotic Species. Pages 64-87 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)
Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2025.04.02.14.23.56)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 2.16 MB
Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its dorsal patterning.
Hemidactylus — Greek hemi- = “half” + daktylos = “finger” — “half-toed,” referring to the divided toe pads.
frenatus — Latin frenatus = “bridled” — possibly describing markings resembling a bridle.
First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
The Reptile Database
GenBank
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database
Selected References:
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1836
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Dumeril, A. M. Constant and Gabriel Bibron. Erpetologie Generale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete Des Reptiles. Tome Troisieme. [General Herpetology or Complete Natural History of Reptiles. Volume Three.] Librairie Encyclopedique de Roret, Paris, France. 517pp.
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1967
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Hunsaker, Don, II, and Paul Breese. Herpetofauna of the Hawaiian Islands. Pacific Science 21(July):423-428
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1970
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McCoy, Clarence J., Jr. and Stephen D. Busack. The lizards Hemidactylus frenatus and Leiolopisma metallica on the Island of Hawaii. Herpetologica 26(3):303
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1994
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Meshaka, Walter E., Jr, Brian P. Butterfield, and Brian Hauge. Hemidactylus frenatus established on the lower Florida Keys. Herpetological Review 25(3):127-128
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