This subfamily represents the "typical" geckos, ie its species have the climbing pads, arboreal behaviour, lack of eyelids and often vocal abilities that to most people characterised geckos. It is also by far the largest, containing several genera and about 607 species. To make things easier, we will consider most of the genera under their own subheading.
Due to the huge size of this subfamily, the following list of genera is arranged alphabetically. In one way this is a pity, since an alphabetical arrangement does not correspond to the importance of some genera and the rarity of others. Therefore I have placed a '*' at the end of each genus listing which is most likely contain species that are regularly offered for sale.
| Scientific Name | Common Name | Distribution | # of Species | Notes |
| Afroedura | Rock Geckos | Southern Africa | 9 | |
| Afrogecko | Southern Africa | 3 | ||
| Agamura | Spider Geckos | Middle East & C Asia | 4 | Common name derives from strikingly thin limbs. |
| Ailuronyx | Seychelles Skin-Sloughing Geckos | Seychelles (Indian Ocean) | 3 | |
| Alsophylax | Straight-Fingered Geckos | C Asia and Indian subcontinent | 7 | |
| Aristelliger | Mainly Caribbean, also South and Central America | 7 | ||
| Asaccus | Middle East and Turkey | 7 | ||
| Blaesodactylus | Malagasy Velvet Geckos | Madagascar | 3 | Placed by some authorities in the genus Homopholis. |
| Bogertia | Bogert's Gecko | Brazil | 1 | |
| Briba | Amaral's Brazilian Gecko | Brazil | 1 | |
| Bunopus | Middle East inc. Arabia, C Asia | 4 | ||
| Calodactylodes | India and Sri Lanka | 2 | ||
| Carinatogecko | Iran and Iraq | 2 | ||
| Chondrodactylus | Comb-Fingered Geckos | Namibia | 1 | |
| Christinus | Australia | 2 | ||
| Cnemaspis | W & E Africa, India and SE Asia | 43 | Absence from Middle East and C Asia may be explicable by requirement for tree cover and humidity | |
| Colopus | Kalahari Ground Gecko | Southern Africa | 1 | |
| Cosymbotus | India and SE Asia, USA (introduced into Florida) | 2 | ||
| Crossobamon | Comb-Toed Geckos | C Asia and Indian subcontinent | 2 | |
| Cryptactites | Coastal Leaf-Toed Geckos | Republic of South Africa | 1 | |
| Cyrtodactylus | Bent-/ Bow-Toed Geckos | 76 | ||
| Cyrtopodion | 35 | |||
| Dixonius | Thailand | 2 | ||
| Dravidogecko | Southern Forest Gecko | India | 1 | Synonymised by some authorities with Hemidactylus. |
| Ebenavia | Malagasy Geckos | Madagascar, Tanzania and Mauritius | 2 | |
| Euleptes | European Leaf-Toed Geckos | Western Mediterranean | 1 | Formerly part of the genus Phyllodactylus. |
| Geckolepis | Madagascar | 5 | ||
| Geckonia | Helmet Geckos | North Africa | 1 | |
| Gehyra | Sugar Geckos | Indo-Pacific | 34 | |
| Gekko | True or Calling Geckos* | Asia | 30 | Large, colourful and vocal geckos: includes the Tokay Gecko G. gecko |
| Goggia | Leaf-Toed Geckos | Southern Africa | 8 | |
| Gonydactylus | Nepal and Vietnam | 4 | May also be considered members of Cyrtodactylus or Cyrtopodion | |
| Gymnodactylus | Naked Toe Geckos | Brazil | 3 | Formerly a much larger genus: many species now broken off into other genera |
| Haemodracon | Yemen (Socotra Island) | 2 | Both formerly part of the genus Phyllodactylus | |
| Hemidactylus | Leaf-Toed Geckos* | Originally Africa: now distributed also in Asia, Australia and the Americas | 78 | A few species of this large genus are offered frequently in the pet trade. |
| Hemiphyllodactylus | Half-Leaf-Fingered Geckos | India, China, SE Asia, Oceania: introduced into Japan and Hawaii | 4 | |
| Homonota | Marked Geckos | South America, also Antilles | 10 | |
| Homopholis | African Velvet Geckos | Sub-Saharan Africa | 3 | |
| Lepidoblepharis | Central America and N South America as far as Brazil | 17 | ||
| Lepidodactylus | Dwarf Geckos | SE Asia, Oceania and Australia, introduced into the Americas | 31 | L. lugubris, the most widespread species of the genus, is parthenogenetic in at least some populations. |
| Luperosaurus | Wolf Geckos | Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia | 8 | |
| Lygodactylus | Dwarf/Painted Geckos | Africa and Madagascar | 63 | |
| Matoatoa | Madagascar | 2 | ||
| Microscalabotes | Tiny-Scaled Gecko | Madagascar | 1 | |
| Nactus | Mauritius, Oceania, Indonesia and Australia | 8 | Most species in this genus were formerly members of others. Some parthenogenetic populations. | |
| Narudasia | Festive Geckos | Namibia | 1 | |
| Pachydactylus | Thick-Fingered Geckos* | Southern Africa | 39 | Includes the popular P. ocellatus, formerly often mistakenly labelled P. bibroni. |
| Palmatogecko | Web-Footed Geckos | Namibia | 1 | |
| Paragehyra | Madagascar | 2 | ||
| Paroedura | Big-Headed Geckos * | Madagascar | 15 | |
| Perochirus | Tropical Geckos | Philippines, Oceania and Japan | 3 | |
| Phelsuma | Day Geckos* | Madagascar, Indian Ocean and occasionally Africa | 40 | Extremely colourful and popular diurnal lizards. Some are tricky to maintain in captivity. |
| Phyllodactylus | Leaf-Toed Geckos | South and Central America as far north as S USA | 47 | |
| Phyllopezus | Brazil | 2 | ||
| Pristurus | Rock Geckos | Mainly Arabia and Socotra Island (Red Sea), also Middle East and Horn of Africa | 21 | |
| Pseudogekko | False Geckos | Philippines | 4 | |
| Ptenopus | Barking Geckos | Southern Africa | 3 | Vocal geckos |
| Ptychozoon | Flying/Gliding Geckos | SE Asia | 6 | Species glide by means of skin flaps between limbs and body |
| Ptyodactylus | Fan-Fingered Geckos | North Africa and Middle East | 6 | Name derives from enlarged circular pad at tip of each toe |
| Quedenfeldtia | Atlas Day Geckos | North Africa | 2 | |
| Rhoptropus | Namib Day Geckos | Southern Africa | 7 | Found in other countries besides Namibia. |
| Saurodactylus | Lizard-Fingered Geckos | N Africa | 2 | |
| Stenodactylus | Short-Fingered Geckos | Middle East, Arabia, North Africa, Horn of Africa and Kenya | 11 | |
| Tarentola | Wall Geckos* | Spain, N & W Africa and Atlantic Islands, Caribbean | 20 | T. mauritanica and T. annularis often offered within the pet trade: robust species |
| Teratolepis | Viper Geckos | India | 2 | |
| Teratoscincus | Wonder Geckos* | C Asia | 6 | Fascinating but fairly demanding creatures in captivity. EMBL place this genus in their own subfamily the Teratoscincinae. |
| Thecadactylus | Americas from Mexico to Brazil and Bolivia | 1 | ||
| Tropiocolotes | Dwarf/Pygmy Geckos* | N Africa | 8 | 1 species regularly offered in pet trade |
| Urocotyledon | W & E Africa, Seychelles | 4 | ||
| Uroplatus | Leaf-Tailed Geckos* | Madagascar | 11 | Fascinating if somewhat bizarre-looking animals: not for beginners |
Removed from this table previously have been Ancyclodactylus, Garthia, Kaokogecko, Millotisaurus, Pseudoceramodactylus, Rhoptropella and Wallsaurus. Ancyclodactylus species now appear to be included under Cnemaspis; Garthia and Wallsaurus under Homonota; Kaokogecko under Palmatogecko; Millotisaurus under Lygodactylus; Pseudoceramodactylus and Trigonodactylus under Stenodactylus; Rhoptropella under Phelsuma; and Trachydactylus under Bunopus.
General Care and Maintenance of Tokay Geckos and Related Species, McKeown and Zaworski, Herpetocultural Library 1997. If you want to keep any of the Gekko, Ptychozoon or Cyrtodactylus species, I thoroughly recommend this book.
Lizards of the World, Mattison
Keeping and Breeding Lizards, Mattison
Lizard-Keeper's Handbook, de Vosjoli, Herpetocultural Library Series, 1994.
Lizard Care from A to Z, Bartlett and Bartlett, Barrons 1997.
Echsen [Lizards] 1, Rogner, Ulmer 1992.
Geckos: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual, Bartlett and Bartlett, Barrons 1995.
Geckos: Keeping and Breeding Them in Captivity, Walls and Walls, TFH 1999.
Breeding and Keeping Geckos, Coborn, TFH 1995. Both Coborn and the Walls' book offer excellent information on many of the gecko species, including some useful descriptions of the rarer Australo-Pacific species, as does Rogner's book.
Grzimek, Volume 6, Reptiles. (see Bibliography on the main Gecko page).
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