THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Gekkonidae  

Sri Lankan Spotted House Gecko
Hemidactylus parvimaculatus (Deraniyagala, 1953)
heh-mee-DAK-til-us — par-vee-mak-yoo-LAY-tus

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Native to Sri Lanka and southern India. It is established in Louisiana (Heckard et al., 2013, Reptiles & Amphibians 20: 192–196) and Texas (Davis and LaDuc, 2019, Herpetological Review 50: 102). (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: 2025.04.02.14.29.39)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.32 MB

Province/State Distribution:

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named after its dorsal pattern.
Hemidactylus — Greek hemi- = “half” + daktylos = “finger” — “half-toed,” referring to the divided toe pads.
parvimaculatus — Latin parvus = “small” + maculatus = “spotted” — “small-spotted,” referring to its fine spotting pattern.

First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1953 Deraniyagala, P. E. P. A coloured atlas of some vertebrates from Ceylon. Vol. 2. Tetrapod Reptilia. Goverment Press, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 101pp.
2013 Heckard, David, Andrew Kathriner, and Aaron M. Bauer. First record of Hemidactylus parvimaculatusDeraniyagala, 1953 from the United States. Reptiles & Amphibians 20(4):192–196
2015 Borgardt, T. Geographic distribution. Hemidactylus parvimaculatus (Sri Lankan Spotted House Gecko). Herpetological Review 46:217
2016 Borgardt, T. Geographic distribution. Hemidactylus parvimaculatus (Sri Lankan Spotted House Gecko). Herpetological Review 47:258
2016 Glorioso, B. M. Geographic distribution. Hemidactylus parvimaculatus (Sri Lankan Spotted House Gecko). Herpetological Review 47:258
2016 Glorioso, B. M. Geographic distribution. Hemidactylus parvimaculatus (Sri Lankan Spotted House Gecko). Herpetological Review 47:81
2017 Erdmann, J. A. Geographic distribution. Hemidactylus parvimaculatus (Sri Lankan spotted house gecko). Herpetological Review 48:125
2019 McClure, R. R. Geographic distribution. Hemidactylus parvimaculatus (Sri Lankan spotted house gecko). Herpetological Review 50:525
2019 Pellecchia, C. M., B. M. Glorioso, R. W. Mendyk, C. A. Collen, V. C. Montross, W. McGighan, K. Macedo, B. R. Maldonado, and I. N. Morenc. Geographic distribution. Hemidactylus parvimaculatus (Sri Lankan Spotted House Gecko). Herpetological Review 50:525–526
2019 Pellecchia, C. M. and H. D. Benson. Geographic distribution. Hemidactylus parvimaculatus (Sri Lankan spotted house gecko). Herpetological Review 50:526
2019 Davis, Drew R. and Travis J. LaDuc. Geographic distribution. Hemidactylus parvimaculatus. Herpetological Review 50(1):102
2019 Agarwal, I., A. M. Bauer, V. B. Giri, and A. Khandekar. An expanded ND2 phylogeny of the brookii and prashadi groups with the description of three new Indian Hemidactylus Oken (Squamata: Gekkonidae). Zootaxa 4619:431–458
2026 Genter, B. W. and Drew R. Davis. First records of Hemidactylus aff. malcolmsmithi (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in Florida and Alabama, USA. Rept. Amphib In Press:In Press

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 19:53 CT