Egyptian wall gecko

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Egyptian wall gecko
Systematics
Superordinate : Scale lizards (Lepidosauria)
Order : Scale reptiles (Squamata)
without rank: Geckos (gekkota)
Family : Leaf finger geckos (Phyllodactylidae)
Genre : Tarentola
Type : Egyptian wall gecko
Scientific name
Tarentola mindiae
Baha El Din , 1997

The Egyptian wall gecko ( Tarentola mindiae ), also known as the Qattara gecko , is a species of gecko from the genus Tarentola . The species name honors the Egyptian environmentalist Mindy Baha El Din (1958–2013).

features

The Egyptian wall gecko is a medium-sized and robustly built gecko, which reaches a head-torso length of 81 mm and a total length of 14 cm. The back is covered with regular strips of protruding tubercles . On the back of the tail, the tubercles are round and blunt. The tubercles have strong central keels and many side keels. They are surrounded by rosettes of five to eight medium-sized, horseshoe-shaped scales. The tubercles are laterally separated from one another by two to three small scales. The tubercles in the area of ​​the temporal bone are unclear and separated from one another by almost identical scales. There are a number of enlarged scales behind the chin ( postmentalia ) that are three to five times larger than the throat plates (gulars). The toes are moderately enlarged. The bottom of the fifth toe is covered with an average of 16 adhesive lamellae. The rostral shield is separated from the nostrils . The back is light brown. Five to six black stripes run down the back between the occiput and sacrum . There are two dark lines on the neck that run almost parallel to the snout from the rostral to the interorbital region. There are further irregular, dark stripes and marbling on the top of the head and on the limbs. The belly is gray-white, with each scale having one or more very small, dark spots. The iris is ocher in color.

distribution and habitat

The Egyptian wall gecko is known from northwestern Egypt and northeastern Libya . There is only one record from Libya from 1932, when a specimen was found in the Jialo oasis. According to Sherif Baha El Din , who had this type described in 1997, it could be in several copies, in Cyrenaica collected and as Tarentola mauritanica were considered to representatives of Tarentola mindiae act. In Egypt, the Egyptian wall gecko occurs in the Qattara Depression and in the Siwa oasis and its surroundings. It lives in overgrown areas in otherwise flat and barren stone and sand deserts, where temperatures of 18 to 30 ° C prevail. Microhabitats made from bark and wood of acacia and other trees are preferred as habitats.

Way of life

The Egyptian wall gecko is crepuscular. Its diet consists of crickets, house crickets, grasshoppers and spiders. The species is egg-laying.

status

The IUCN classifies this species as "not at risk" ( least concern ). Although currently no major threats are known, it is potentially vulnerable to habitat loss (particularly at Siwa).

literature

  • Ismail Mustafa Bshaena: Phylogenetics and systematics of North-African Geckos Tarentola. 2011 (Braunschweig, Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina, Faculty of Life Sciences, dissertation, 2011), online .
  • Sherif M. Baha El Din: A new species of Tarentola (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the western Desert of Egypt. In: African Journal of Herpetology. Vol. 46, No. 1, 1997, pp. 30-35, doi : 10.1080 / 21564574.1997.9649973 .
  • Sherif Baha El Din: A Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Egypt. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo 2006, ISBN 977-424-979-8 , pp. 50-52.

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