Distribution. Gecko smithii ranges from southern Thailand south of the Isthmus of Kra from at least Khao Phanom Bencha National Park in Krabi and Khao Nan National Park in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province to the northern border of the Banjaran Titiwangsa in southeastern Thailand and northwestern Peninsular Malaysia. Its range continues southward along the west side of the Banjaran Titiwangsa to at least the state of Selangor but very likely farther as well (Figs 1, 7). Stoliczka (1870) reports " Gecko Smithii " from Java based on a juvenile specimen (SVL 86.3 mm) specimen sent to him but not collected by him. However, his description of the color pattern is well within the range of variation of both G. smithii and G. gecko. Stoliczka (1870) stated his specimen had 12 longitudinal rows of " small flattened sub-equal granules [= longitudinal rows of dorsal tubercles], slightly varying in size on the posterior part of the body and especially at the sides ". The dorsal tubercles of species in the Gekko smithii complex are distinctly raised and sub-conical in adults but less so in juveniles. Furthermore, of the 93 specimens of the Gekko smithii complex examined here, only one specimen from Borneo had 12 rows dorsal tubercles. The others ranged from 8 - 11. Awal Riyanto (pers com. in lit. 2021) says he nor any of his colleagues working in Java have ever seen G. smithii. Photographic material and specimens we have examined from Java cataloged as G. smithii in the Zoological Museum Amsterdam, now officially part of Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, are G. gecko. We believe reports of G. smithii from Java stem from the possible misidentification of this species by Stoliczka (1870) as no new naturally occurring populations have been reported or observed to our knowledge. The less likely scenario exists, however, that Stoliczka described a juvenile G. albomaculatus from Bangka island, Indonesia as he notes " I have also added a complete description of the rare Gecko smithii, Gray, a specimen of which was sent to me from Java, and that of what appears to be a full grown specimen of Tetragonosoma [Lycodon] effrene, CANT., from the island Banca. " The ambiguity in this sentence could mean these two species were sent to him from Java but were collected on Bangka Island. Stoliczka (1870) reported Gekko smithii (as Gecko stentor) from the coastal cities of Chittagong, Bangladesh and Akyab (= Sittwe = Sittway, Rakhine [Arakan] State), Myanmar which was followed by Theobald (1876), Annandale (1906), Boulenger (1912), and Taylor (1963). Smith (1935) stated " I do not know of any specimens to prove that this Gecko inhabits Burma, as has been stated. " Ota et al. (1991) examined a specimen (MCZ 3120) putatively from " Burma: Rangoon " (= Myanmar, Yangon). MCZ has no other data on this specimen and the only species of Gekko we have seen in Yangon and throughout all of Myanmar over the last five years of field work has been Gekko gecko. Furthermore, the herpetological surveys in Myanmar by the California Academy of Sciences (www. calacademy. org / research / herpetology / myanmar) which resulted in the collection of over 14,000 specimens, found no Gekko smithii. We do not consider this species as part of the Burmese herpetofauna. However, the type material of Gekko gecko azhari Mertens, 1955 from Barkal, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh does bear some resemblance to G. smithii in head shape, gular scales, and dorsal tubercle shape (Roesler 2001). Mahony et al. (2009) reported on 23 additional specimens from throughout the Chittagong Division that they considered G. g. azhari.
