Leopard geckos
| Leopard geckos | ||||||||||||
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Leopard gecko ( Eublepharis macularius ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Eublepharis | ||||||||||||
| Gray , 1842 |
The leopard geckos ( Eublepharis ) are a genus from the family of the Lidgeckos (Eublepharidae). They are crepuscular and nocturnal ground-dwelling geckos, which are mainly native to the steppes of Pakistan, northwest India and Afghanistan. The origin of their generic name Eublepharis comes from the Greek 'eu' for "true", 'blephar' for " eyelid ".
The leopard gecko got its name from its coloration, which it gets as an adult - a usually cream-colored or yellow base color with black and brownish spots.
Leopard geckos, along with a few Old World geckos, belong to the very small group of geckos that have eyelids. Leopard geckos are eye animals. This means that they detect prey and predators based on their eyesight. Your sense of smell tends to remain in the background. The movable eyelids help the animal to keep its eyes clean in its sandy environment. Another interesting difference is that leopard geckos don't have sticky lamellae on their feet, but rather claws , which are great for digging. Therefore they cannot climb up panes of glass. Like all geckos, they can shed their tails if suddenly startled and have to flee; but a new tail grows back. The regenerated tail is colored but monotonous and shaped like a beet.
In its natural environment, the leopard gecko lives under stones or in small caves to avoid extreme temperatures. Like most inhabitants of steppes, it is nocturnal and hunts insects, scorpions, spiders and even small nest-young rodents.
Leopard geckos show only a very small sexual dimorphism - the males weigh a little more than females. Males have a V-shaped row of preanal pores and paired hemipenic pockets, which are clearly visible as thickenings at the base of the tail. The sex is only determined during the breeding season and depends on the incubation temperature. For example, females hatch at low temperatures and mostly males at higher temperatures. Young leopard geckos cannot yet be differentiated sexually.
female leopard gecko
male leopard gecko
carrying leopard gecko
Types and distribution
The genus Eublepharis now includes five species, but “leopard gecko” usually refers to the species E. macularius .
Eublepharis angramainyu
Eublepharis angramainyu (Anderson & Leviton, 1966) occurs in northern Syria , northern Iraq and western Iran . The animals show brown spots on a yellow to ocher-colored background, which can merge into lines in the head area. In the area of the body, three to four darker bands can be made out. The areas between the bands are, like the bands themselves, spotted brown.
Eublepharis fuscus
Eublepharis fuscus (Börner, 1981), occurs in western India, northern Karnataka , Maharashtra and Gujarat .
Eublepharis hardwickii
Eublepharis hardwickii (Gray, 1827) occurs on the northeast coast of India . The animals differ significantly from the other members of the genus Eublepharis in terms of their drawing and their scaling . The animals show three clearly separated light transverse bands on a brown to dark brown background. The spaces in between are monochrome. The animals resemble the other species in their youthful coloring. The dorsal tubercle scales of E. hardwickii touch each other, in contrast to all other species of this genus. Also unique within the genus Eublepharis is the adult color after hatching from the egg. The tubercle scales are generally flatter than in the other species.
Eublepharis macularius
Eublepharis macularius (Blyth, 1854) occurs in northwest India , in large parts of central Pakistan and in southeast Afghanistan . Scaling and drawing are essentially similar to the characteristics of E. angramainyu , only the head drawing always shows individual spots, never lines. E. macularius is very often kept in captivity and is usually referred to when talking about the leopard gecko . In addition, a distinction is made between the following subspecies of Eublepharis macularius, which have slight differences in terms of scaling and drawing:
- Eublepharis macularius macularius
- Eublepharis macularius afghanicus
- Eublepharis macularius fasciolatus
- Eublepharis macularius fuscus
- Eublepharis macularius montanus
- Eublepharis macularius smithi
The subspecies status is currently only secured for Eublepharis macularius afghanicus
. Various authors (e.g. Grießhammer & Köhler; Seufer, Kaverkin, Kirschner) discuss that the other animals are variants from the clinical marginal areas of the nominate form Eublepharis macularius macularius
.
Eublepharis turcmenicus
Eublepharis turcmenicus (Darevsky, 1977) has its relatively small distribution area in southern Turkmenistan in the border area with Iran and Afghanistan . Body structure and color are very similar to E. angramainyu , the only clearly visible distinguishing feature are the pre-anal pores of the males , which are separated by several scales .
Color variations
Colors and patterns can be influenced by selection during breeding. It has become fashionable to breed certain color variations and patterns with the leopard gecko . These are limited to the top of the body, while the belly is always light gray to white and the tail is usually drawn all around. The names of the color variations are derived from the respective color, always referring to the adult animal. For example, B. the variation Albino no black pigments. Leopard geckos with certain colors are correspondingly rare and are therefore popular but also expensive show animals. Many color variations are already bred in America and can be found at trade fairs and stock exchanges. The different color mutations are named after their respective color or after their first breeder, for example the Tremper-Albino line was named after the large breeder Ron Tremper from Texas and the Albino-bell line after Mark and Kim Bell.
literature
- Karsten Grießhammer, Gunther Koehler: Leopard geckos. Care, breeding, diseases, color variations. Herpeton-Verlag Köhler, Offenbach 2006, ISBN 3-936180-17-2 .
- Friedrich-Wilhelm Henkel, Michael Knöthig, Wolfgang Schmidt: Leopard geckos. Natur-und-Tier-Verlag, Münster 2000, ISBN 3-931587-38-X .
- Gerti Keller, Eva-Grit Schneider: Leopard geckos . (= My hobby. ). bede-Verlag, Ruhmannsfelden 2006, ISBN 3-89860-114-5 .
- Hermann Seufer, Yuri Kaverkin, Andreas Kirschner (eds.): The Lidgeckos. Care, breeding and way of life. Kirschner & Seufer, Karlsruhe 2005, ISBN 3-9804207-7-9 .
