''Thecadactylus'' is a

gekko ''Gekko'' is a genus of Southeast Asian geckos, commonly known as true geckos or calling geckos, in the family Gekkonidae. Although species such as '' Gekko gecko'' (tokay gecko) are very widespread and common, some species in the same genus ha ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

from the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

Americas. They are known as the turnip-tailed geckos.Köhler, G. and M. Vesely. (2011)
A new species of ''Thecadactylus'' from Sint Maarten, Lesser Antilles (Reptilia, Squamata, Gekkonidae).
''ZooKeys'' 118: 97–107. The genus belongs to the gecko

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Phyllodactylidae The Phyllodactylidae are a family of geckos (Gekkota) consisting of over 150 species in 10 genera, distributed throughout the New World, North Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The family was first delineated based on a molecular phylogenetic a ...

. Until 2007, it was believed to be

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

, with ''T. rapicauda'' the sole species. Then however, the population from upstream southern

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...

was discovered to be very distinct and was named a new

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

, ''T. solimoensis''. A third species was described in 2011. * ''

Thecadactylus oskrobapreinorum ''Thecadactylus oskrobapreinorum'' is a species of gecko. It was first described in 2011 from Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles. Previous to this it was thought that the only species of turnip-tailed gecko present in the Lesser Antilles was ...

'' Köhler & Vesely, 2011 * ''

Thecadactylus rapicauda The turnip-tailed gecko (''Thecadactylus rapicauda'') is a species of gecko widely distributed from Mexico southward through Central America and into South America as far south as Brazil, and on many islands in the Lesser Antilles. It was lo ...

'' Houttuyn, 1782 – turniptail gecko * ''

Thecadactylus solimoensis ''Thecadactylus solimoensis'' is a species of gecko described in 2007. It is often confused with ''T. rapicauda'', the turnip-tailed gecko. This species is found at elevations of above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of th ...

'' Bergmann & Russell, 2007

References

*Georg August Goldfuss, Goldfuss, G.A. 1820. Reptilia. pp. 121–181 ''In:'' ''Handbuch der Naturgeschichte zum Gebrauch bei Vorlesungen. Vol. 3. Handbuch der Zoologie''. J.L. Schrag: Nürnberg. T Lizard genera Lizards of Central America Lizards of South America Lizards of the Caribbean Taxa named by Lorenz Oken {{gecko-stub