On April 10th, I had the pleasure of guest posting on the #herpetALLogy twitter account. I wanted to share the awesome diversity seen across gecko toe pads!
Please welcome @TravisHagey for today's #herpetALLogy takover. (We hear there will be geckos!!) Travis completed a bachelors degree at Western Washington University, w/ a PhD and postdoc in evolutionary biology at University of Idaho. He stayed at UI for his first postdoc. pic.twitter.com/lVHLkRzIkF
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Hi everyone! I’m interested in #herpetology and #scicomm with an emphasis on #biomechanics and #evolution education and outreach. With my take over today I want to give everyone a tour of toepads across #geckos!
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
There are 7 families of #geckos. We are going to start with the Diplodactylidae family, which is only found in Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia. In this family, there are currently 24 genera and 151 species.
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Amalosia rhombifer is a small arboreal gecko found in Queensland, Australia. pic.twitter.com/kTqHBoUrRa
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Correlophus ciliatus or its old name Rhacodactylus ciliatus is from
New Caledonia where it is struggling in the wild, but many people breed this species as a pet around the world. Its commonly known as a crested gecko. pic.twitter.com/q7gv8eczM1— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Let me know @TravisHagey if there are any gecko toe pads you want to see and I'll check if I have an image.
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Another small Australian gecko, Crenadactylus ocellatus used to be the only species in its genus until recently a handful of subspecies were upgraded to species. pic.twitter.com/ufcndSUTUG
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Although geckos are well known for their adhesive pads, Not all geckos have sticky toes! Rhynchoedura eyrensis is an Australian Diplodactylidae gecko with just claws, no pads. pic.twitter.com/LjOrOTmjrd
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Since not all geckos have toe pads, the obvious question is when and how did they evolve!? We're pretty sure toe pads evolve multiple times in geckos, given the internal structures of their toes and fossils, but figuring out exactly when and where is really tough!
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Some geckos have adapted to terrestrial lifestyles with smaller and smaller toe pads. Australia's Diplodactylus and Lucasium clade is a great example of that transition. Diplodactylus tessellatus is a species with intermediate sized toe pads. pic.twitter.com/6iK7rqSWFH
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Australia's biggest gecko is in the Pseudothecadactylus genus. Here is a Pseudothecadactylus australis toe pad. These geckos live high up in the trees. pic.twitter.com/mxiPzuYK2p
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
In addition to toe pads evolving and being lost multiple times within geckos, some genera have also developed adhesive pads on their tips of their tails! As one of Australia's largest geckos, Pseudothecadactylus australis also have an adhesive tail pad! pic.twitter.com/gPRwM9UXsV
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Our last Diplodactylidae gecko for the day is Strophurus ciliaris. Species in this genus tend to be a little gangly with long legs and can secrete a sticky, stringy fluid from their tails! pic.twitter.com/8F3q7ljjgz
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Our next family of geckos is Pygopodidae. This Australian family of geckos, or flap-footed lizards, are limbless, so no adhesive toe pads or clawed toes! pic.twitter.com/FPjtSuyul7
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
With 7 genera and 30 species, Carphodactylidae is related to Diplodactylidae and Pygopodidae. All of the species in this family just have claws like this Carphodactylus laevis. Many of these species are very cryptic though! matching moss or lichen on tree trunks and rocks. pic.twitter.com/qWFOqbIY6D
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Another great reason to study gecko toes are the remarkable examples of convergent evolution! @MarkScherz asked for a Uroplatus (from the Gekkonidae family). Uprplatus geckos are from Madagascar and also very convincing bark and leaf mimics. Here is a Uroplatus fimbriatus pad. pic.twitter.com/UdlcQ6mDj1
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Very similar to Uroplatus toe pads, here we have Ptyodactylus guttatus from the Phyllodactylidae family, found on the Arabian Peninsula, which is a very different environment from the moist rainforests Uroplatus lives in in Madagascar! Why are their toe pads so similar!? pic.twitter.com/C0dRXwGmrw
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
As a new faculty here in Mississippi University for Women, one of my goals has been to incorporate aspects of inclusion, equity, and diversity into my classes. One way that I felt like could do this was by inviting early career female scientists to Skype with my classes.
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 10, 2019
Our next family of geckos is Eublepharidae (6 genera, 38 species). This family, like Carphodactylidae, is all padless, with just claws on their toes. A common pet, this is the foot of Eublepharis hardwickii or a leopard gecko pic.twitter.com/HZa4xrZytL
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 11, 2019
Moving on to Sphaerodactylidae (12 genera, 219 species), this family has a variety of pad and padless genera. Aristelliger hechti is a species from the Caribbean with your "stereotypical" gecko foot pic.twitter.com/w8IaI8dTwu
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 11, 2019
Sphaerodactylus is one of the biggest gecko genera with 105 species. Sometimes breed as pets these tiny geckos has very unique asymmetrical toe pads! Here we have Sphaerodactylus clenchi. pic.twitter.com/qtfRFwuTcG
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 11, 2019
Some terrestrial geckos, like this Teratoscincus microlepis have toes that are specialized for sandy surfaces with fringes on the sides of their toes instead of adhesive toe pads! pic.twitter.com/JbvL9uCjPg
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 11, 2019
Our penultimate family is Phyllodactylidae (8 genera, 148 species). Similar to Diplodactylidae and Sphaerodactylidae, there is a wide variety of toe pad shapes! The namesake genera, Phyllodactylus have a single distal pair of toe pads, like in this Phyllodactylus delcampi pic.twitter.com/trnyHnm7Y8
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 11, 2019
Another really striking example of convergent evolution across families is between Pseudothecadactylus https://t.co/Ede6k8JWIj and Thecadactylus, a gecko from South America. Here is Thecadactylus rapicauda pic.twitter.com/LUXHWA0J0Y
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 11, 2019
Our last family of geckos for the day is Gekkonidae. By far the biggest family with 1217 current species and over 50 genera! It is home to the workhorse of gecko toe pad research Gekko gecko also known as the Tokay gecko pic.twitter.com/yUKd1xc8Lw
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 11, 2019
Along with convergent examples of much of the diversity we've already seen today, Gekkonidae also has some really striking species, like Afroedura hawequensis with their unusually shaped toe pads pic.twitter.com/IXe1ODl9F1
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 11, 2019
If you've ever visited somewhere tropical, you've hopefully had the luck to see house geckos! Species from the Hemidactylus genus are some of the most successful invaders, colonizing habitats around the world. Here is the successful introduced gecko species Hemidactylus frenatus pic.twitter.com/PJbjSddvSi
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 11, 2019
Our last species of the night is Lygodactylus kimhowelli. Lygodactylus, and many other gecko genera (like Gehyra) have divided toe pads superficiality similar to that of Thecadactylus and Pseudothecadactylus. pic.twitter.com/RBTgbixWom
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 11, 2019
I had a great time today sharing some of the toe pad pics I've collected over the years. Please reach out at @TravisHagey if you have any more gecko questions! I'm also excited to compare and contrast gecko and anoles as well!
— herpetALLogy (@herpetALLogy) April 11, 2019