Gekkonidae

Gekkonidae is the largest family of geckos, containing over 950 described species in 62 genera. The Gekkonidae contain many of the most widespread gecko species, including house geckos (Hemidactylus), the tokay gecko (Gekko), day geckos (Phelsuma), the mourning gecko (Lepidodactylus), and dtellas (Gehyra). Gekkonid geckos occur globally and are particularly diverse in tropical areas. Many species of these geckos exhibit an adhering ability to surfaces through Van der Waals forces utilizing intermolecular forces between molecules of their setae and molecules of the surface they are on.

Gekkonidae

Nick Hobgood · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
geckoPBDB
Sits inside
GekkotaPBDB
Diet
insectivore, carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 72 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 2 of 177 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 2 of 177 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 37 of 177 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 4 of 177 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 35 of 177 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 8 of 177 occurrencesPleistocene — about 24 of 177 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–80 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences80–77 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences77–74 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences71–68 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences60–57 Mya — about 1 occurrence57–54 Mya — about 3 occurrences54–51 Mya — about 3 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 3 occurrences48–45 Mya — about 2 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 3 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 3 occurrences40–37 Mya — about 6 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 15 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 2 occurrences31–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–26 Mya — about 1 occurrence26–23 Mya — about 1 occurrence23–20 Mya — about 4 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 5 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 9 occurrences14–11 Mya — about 8 occurrences11–8.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences8.5–5.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.7–2.8 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.8–0 Mya — about 90 occurrences72.2 Mya11.7 ka85 Mya0 Mya

177 occurrences of Gekkonidae on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

177 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

25 formations

Perriere — 44.35°N, 1.73°EPerriere — 44.37°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.37°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.38°N, 1.43°EFriars — 32.90°N, 117.10°WVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EJbel Guersif — 31.61°N, 5.66°WQuercy Phosphorites — 44.27°N, 1.63°EEl Mamey — 19.45°N, 70.70°Wfacies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°ELegetet — 0.18°S, 35.27°EArgiles d'lignite du Soissonnais — 49.33°N, 2.66°ESilveirinha — 40.01°N, 8.82°WPerfugas — 40.72°N, 9.10°EElisabeth Bay — 26.98°S, 15.27°ELaa — 48.42°N, 16.38°ERüssingen — 49.86°N, 8.35°ECórcoles — 40.47°N, 2.68°WTienen — 50.82°N, 5.10°ELignites de Soissonais — 49.08°N, 4.03°EMost — 50.42°N, 13.36°EAlachua — 29.70°N, 82.60°WAguja — 29.30°N, 103.57°WTakli — 21.15°N, 79.10°EGlib Zegdou — 30.00°N, 4.00°WCapo Mannu dune complex — 40.03°N, 8.40°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Gekkonidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. One further formation holds fewer occurrences and is not listed. 139 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

2,343 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 131 sites for Gekkonidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

81 references

Each of the 177 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 69 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Gekkonidae

Credit
Nick Hobgood
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itGekkota through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1825