Pachydactylus...?

[Mehelya]

Well, went out for a spot of herping with some new friends, and came across this little chap... I have spoken to a few people, and it seems to be a bit of a conundrum. It looks like a Pachydactylus affinis, but is 300+Kms out of range. The only two Pachydactylus we get in our area is P maculatus, and P vansoni. Now, this one matches neither... The area is Northern Natal Interior (Not near my location thankfully).

Without further ado, the pictures...




Such a pretty little thing. Total length is about 6.3cm, so I am pretty sure that it is an adult, and has it's adult coloration.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Ruan Stander]

Very interesting find. It does look like affinis, but even for that the colour is not 'normal'. It could also go for punctatus I would say, but that's also out of range.
If it's not an undescribed species I think I'm going to put my money on punctatus.

[Joshhowell94]

I'm not too sure on the range of any of the geckos but by looking at pictures could it possibly be, P. geitje?

[Ruan Stander]

That's completely out of range if I'm correct.

[reptile]

Very odd indeed. Looks a bit like P.affinis, but lacks the black spots/stripes/blotches.

[Chris89]

Interesting find. It does look a lot like punctatus but that species has no enlarged tubercles. looks like your gecko does? Says here in the field guide that some vansoni don't have the white bars across the back so could be one of those? what was the habitat like?

[Westley Price]

I sent the pics to Aaron Bauer and he confirmed that this is most likely just an unusual vansoni, although he says he has never seen one like this.

Whether the colour/pattern is typical of a specific locality or a genetic anomaly, no idea.

[Ruan Stander]

You are spot on Chris, I didn't consider that.
Interesting.

[Mehelya]

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions. This one also had me paging through every book, and Pachy site I could find. Also had my hopes up for a while, while confirming the ID. Still a neat little gecko, and I'll upload natural pics when I can get a chance to go through them.

Westley, thanks for helping with confirming the ID. I will go back to the area, and see if I can find any more of the same type, or typical Van Sons in the area, and go from there.