New species of gecko is found in Cabo Verde by Tropibio team member!

An international team of researchers led by Tropibio/Cibio researcher Dr Raquel Vasconcelos discovered a new species of gecko on the island of São Nicolau, archipelago of Cabo Verde. The work was published in the journal Zootaxa. 

Described with the name of Hemidactylus nicolauensis, the new species – of the genus Hemidactylus – is genetically distinct from the Bouvier's gecko H. bouvieri, to which it was previously associated, and from all other closely related endemic Hemidactylus from the Cabo Verde Islands in mitochondrial and nuclear markers. It is morphologically characterized by distinct colouration and a different and diagnostic arrangement of the finger lamellae.


Female of the new gecko from the island of São Nicolau in Cabo Verde, Hemidactylus nicolauensis, deposited in the future Natural History Museum of Cabo Verde. PHOTO: GUNTHER KÖHLER.