Hemidactylus cessacii Bocage, 1873
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Previously considered a synonym of H. bouvieri (Loveridge, 1947; Wermuth, 1965). Vasconcelos et al. (2020) raised the possibility that it was synonymous with H. lopezjuradoi from nearby Fogo. It was re-validated by (Mateo et al., 2022).
Conservation Status
Extinct (Fernández-Palacios et al., 2025)
Last record: 1850-1900 (Fernández-Palacios et al., 2025)
Distribution & Habitat
Santiago, Cape Verde Islands, Macaronesia
Anatomy & Morphology
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
MZH MS 1953 (Vasconcelos et al., 2020:506)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Bocage, J. V. B. (1873). Melanges erpetologiques. II. Sur quelques reptiles et batraciens nouveaux, rares ou peu connus d‘Afrique occidentale. Jorn. Sci. Math. Phys. Nat. Lisboa 4: 209-227.
Other references:
Arnold, E. N., Vasconcelos, R., Harris, D. J., Mateo, J. A. and Carranza, S. (2008). Systematics, biogeography and evolution of the endemic Hemidactylus geckos (Reptilia, Squamata, Gekkonidae) of the Cape Verde Islands: based on morphology and mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. Zoologica Scripta 37: 619-636. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00351.x
Bocage, J. V. B. (1896). Reptis de algumas possessões portuguezas d’ África que existem no museu de Lisboa. Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes 2, 1–9, estampas I e II.
Fernández-Palacios, José María, Fructuoso, Melania, Illera, Juan Carlos, Rando, Juan Carlos, de Nascimento, Lea, Fernández-Palacios, Enrique, Patiño, Jairo, Otto, Rüdiger, Castilla-Beltrán, Álvaro, González, Esther Martín, Orihuela-Rivero, Raúl, Alcover, Josep Antoni, Whittaker, Robert J. (2025). A synthesis of terrestrial species extinctions in the Macaronesian Islands and their correspondence with human occupancy. PNAS Nexus 4(8): pgaf215. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf215 [Supplementary data (.docx)]
Loveridge, A. (1947). Revision of the African lizards of the family Gekkondiae. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 98: 1-469.
Mateo, J. A., Geniez, P., Veiret, P. and López-Jurado, L. F. (2022). Reptiles de Macaronesia. Azores-Madeira-Salvajes-Canarias-Cabo Verde. Madrid, Spain: Asociación Herpetológica Española. 473 pp.
Mertens, R. (1954). Die Eidechsen der Kapverden. Societas Scientarum Fennica Commentationes Biologicae 15: 1-17.
Vasconcelos, Raquel, Köhler, Gunther, Geniez, Philippe and Crochet, Pierre-André. (2020). A new endemic species of Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from São Nicolau Island, Cabo Verde. Zootaxa 4878 (3): 501-522. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4878.3.4
Wermuth, H. (1965). Liste der rezenten Amphibien und Reptilien. Gekkonidae, Pygopodidae, Xantusiidae. Das Tierreich 80: 1-246.