Philippine lizards of the family Gekkonidae comprise 49 species (Taylor, 1915, 1922; Brown and Alcala, 1978) in 10 genera: Gehyra (1), Gekko (13), Hemidactylus (5), Hemiphyllodactylus (2), Lepidodactylus (6), Luperosaurus (8), Ptychozoon (1), Pseudogekko (4), and Cyrtodactylus (9), (Brown et al., 2007, 2010a, 2011; Welton et al., 2009, 2010a, 2010b; Zug, 2011). An amazing percentage of these species are endemic to the Philippines archipelago (roughly 85%; Brown et al., 2011). Several of the recently described gekkonids in the Philippines were discovered only recently as part of ongoing surveys around the archipelago. Recent phylogenetic studies focused on Philippine gekkonids (Siler et al., 2010; Welton et al., 2010a,b) have resulted in the observation of high levels of genetic diversity among populations of widespread species, an indication that the country's gecko diversity may still be greatly underestimated.
There are currently 33 recognized species in the genus Lepidodactylus, six known to occur in the Philippines (Lepidodactylus aureolineatus, Lepidodactylus balioburius, Lepidodactylus christiani, Lepidodactylus herrei, Lepidodactylus lugubris, Lepidodactylus planicaudus). One of these species (Lepidodactylus herrei) is polytypic, with two subspecies currently recognized to occur in the archipelago (L. h. herrei and L. h. medianus).
Lepidodactylus herrei medianus is distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) moderate-sized species of Lepidodactylus (SVL 35.4-47.4 mm); (2) supralabials 10-13; (3) infralabials 9-13; (4) chin shields generally in six rows of enlarged scales; (5) midbody scale rows 94-108; (6) digit webbing between Toe III and Toe IV extends 1/6 to 1/4; (7) digit dilation broad; (8) terminal scansors divided except for first digit; (9) Toe IV scansors 12-16; (10) Toe I scansors 9-11; (11) all digits clawed except for first; (12) interorbital scale rows 30-34; (13) preanal and femoral pores 32-39 in continual series; and (14) populations not parthenogenetic. Characters and character states from Brown and Alcala (1978).
This species is recognized to occur on the islands of Bohol, Cebu, Camotes, and Leyte in the central Philippines.
The name medianus, "in the middle" refers to the fact that the subspecies is somewhat in between typical L. h. herrei and L. aureolineatus in scale counts as well as in area occupied. (Text taken from Brown and Alcala, 1978)
Mindanao and Visayan (Central) Pleistocene Aggregate Island Complexes (PAIC; Brown and Diesmos, 2002).
This species most closely resembles Lepidodactylus herrei herrei
Two hatchlings measure 17.2 and 17.8 mm in snouth-vent length. The eggs were collected from the leaf axils of a coconut tree on Cebu Island. (Text taken from Brown and Alcala, 1978)
45.1 mm SVL for holotype (Brown and Alcala, 1978)
CAS-SU 24812; mature male; Matinao-an, Carmen, Cebu Island, roughly 400 m elevation; Type stored in the California Academy of Sciences
