Hemidactylus bowringii
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The Oriental leaf-toed gecko (Hemidactylus bowringii), also known commonly as the Asian smooth gecko, Bowring's gecko, Bowring's smooth gecko, and the Sikkimese dark-spotted gecko, is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is native to East Asia.
The specific name, bowringii, is in honor of either John Charles Bowring, who was a British amateur naturalist and businessman in Hong Kong, or his father John Bowring, who was a British diplomat and a governor of Hong Kong.
Boulenger (1885) described H. bowringii as follows: "Snout longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, 1.4 times the diameter of the orbit; forehead slightly concave; ear-opening small, roundish. Body and limbs moderate; a slight fold of the skin along the flank. Digits free, moderately dilated, inner well developed; infradigital lamellae obliquely curved, 5 under the thumb, 7 or 8 under the fourth finger, 5 or 6 under the first toe, and 9 or 10 under the fourth toe. Upper surfaces covered with uniform small granular scales, largest on the snout, smallest on the occiput. Rostral four-sided, twice as broad as deep, with median cleft above; nostril pierced... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nanning | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Fuzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 3 | Guangzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 4 | Hong Kong | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 5 | Tuen Mun | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 6 | Xiamen City | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 7 | Taipei | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 8 | Zhuhai [Macau] | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 9 | Taichung | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 10 | Kaohsiung | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report an Oriental Leaf-toed Gecko sighting in Hong Kong on a given day, based on 231 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 6th most-seen of the 43 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report an Oriental Leaf-toed Gecko in Hong Kong on a given day, against about 10% in December and January, the lowest months. That is one of Hong Kong's wettest months, with about 190 mm of rain against 25 mm in December.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Oriental Leaf-toed Gecko sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
4th of 10
Of the 10 cities where we can rate Oriental Leaf-toed Gecko sightings, Hong Kong ranks 4th at about 20%. The best odds are in Nanning (China, about 40%), Fuzhou (China, about 30%) and Guangzhou (China, about 30%).
Same genus: Hemidactylus
The closest relatives of the Oriental Leaf-toed Gecko that you can see in Hong Kong (genus Hemidactylus, House Geckos) are Garnot's House Gecko (about 20%), Brooke's House Gecko (about 10%) and Common House Gecko (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Oriental Leaf-toed Gecko is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Hong Kong (231 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
