Hemidactylus

Hemidactylus is a genus of geckos, family Gekkonidae, commonly called house geckos, comprising roughly 199 to 200 described species with new species identified regularly. The genus name derives from Ancient Greek for half-finger, referring to the distinctive split toe pads of its members, which are found across tropical regions worldwide, extending into subtropical Africa and Europe; house geckos readily colonize oceanic islands by rafting on flotsam and are widely distributed across Polynesia, aided by a strong readiness to adapt to and coexist with humans in and around buildings. The genus was established in 1817 by Lorenz Oken, with the tropical house gecko as its type species, and cryptic species complexes exist across several archipelagoes.