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Geckolepis

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Family
  
Gekkonidae

Phylum
  
Chordata

Order
  
Scaled reptiles

Class
  
Reptilia

Subfamily
  
Gekkoninae

Rank
  
Genus

Geckolepis 68mediatumblrcom1f83e7421787f89f5c7d6560a9412f

Similar
  
Blaesodactylus, Ebenavia, Homopholis, Matoatoa, Paragehyra

Geckolepis megalepis a new fish scale gecko


Geckolepis is a genus of geckos, commonly referred to as fish scale geckos, which are endemic to Madagascar and the Comoro Islands. They are nocturnal, arboreal, insectivorous lizards, found in primary and secondary forest, as well as degraded habitats. They are best known for their ability to lose their skin and scales when grasped by a predator.

Contents

Geckolepis The Travelling Taxonomist Geckolepis maculata Peters 1880

Geckolepis maculata female anchovy


Taxonomy

Geckolepis The Travelling Taxonomist Geckolepis typica Grandidier 1867

The genus Geckolepis has difficult taxonomy due to variable pholidosis. Recent taxonomic and genetic investigation have shown that several cryptic species are present in this genus. Recently, Hawlitschek et al. (2016) resurrected Geckolepis humbloti from synonymy with Geckolepis maculata, as a species endemic to the Comoro Islands. In 2017, Scherz et al. (2017) described G. megalepis from the limestone pinnacle karst formations of Ankarana National Parkā€”this species has larger scales than all other members of the genus, but it was also identified based on its osteology. The taxonomic identity of G. maculata remains uncertain.

Species

The following five species are recognized.

Geckolepis Fishscaled gecko Geckolepis maculata The Fish scaled gec Flickr

  • Peters' spotted fish scale gecko, Geckolepis maculata
  • Humblot's fish scale gecko, Geckolepis humbloti
  • Many-scaled fish scale gecko, Geckolepis polylepis
  • Grandidier's fish scale gecko, Geckolepis typica
  • Large-scaled fish scale gecko, Geckolepis megalepis

  • Geckolepis Flickriver Most interesting photos tagged with geckolepis

    Geckolepis Geckolepis Maculata

    Geckolepis REPTILES4ALL Fishscale gecko Geckolepis petiti

    Geckolepis

    References

    Geckolepis Wikipedia