Subphylum Vertebrata Suborder Sauria | Infraorder Gekkota Rank Species | |
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Similar Pristurus, Iranian rock gecko, Holodactylus africanus, Holodactylus, Agamura persica | ||
Pristurus carteri shedding sexy gecko strip tease
Etymology
The generic name, Pristurus, means "saw-tailed" in Latin, and the specific name, carteri, is in honor of Dr. Henry Carter who collected the holotype.
Subspecies
There are two subspecies of Pristurus carteri. The first is the nominotypical subspecies, Pristurus carteri carteri (Gray, 1863), and the other is Pristurus carteri tuberculatus Parker, 1931, P. c. carteri being the more common.
Common names
The species has many common names such as ornate rock gecko, Carter's rock gecko, and scorpion-tailed gecko.
Geographic range & habitat
It is native to Oman where it often is found basking on rocks or in urban areas.
Behavior
P. carteri are often seen swaying their curly tails back and forth to each other in a way to sort of communicate to each other. The males develop little fleshy spikes on their tails upon reaching sexual maturity. When they feel threatened they curl their tails in a scorpion like fashion and even mimic the movements a scorpion will use as a threat display; this and the tail waving are the way they get the common name scorpion-tailed geckos.
Members of the genus Pristurus are diurnal. This is unusual in geckos except in the genera Phelsuma, Lygodactylus, Naultinus, Quedenfeldtia, Rhoptropus, all Sphaerodactylids, and, of course, Pristurus.
Description
They attain an average length of 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in) snout to vent length (SVL) and a total length (including tail) of 8–9 cm (3.1–3.5 in).
Reproduction
They obtain sexual maturity in roughly 10 months. They lay 1–2 hard shelled eggs that are incubated at 28 °C (82.4 °F) for 70–90 days. Each neonate hatches out at a total length of about 3.5–4 cm (1.4–1.6 in).