Pristurus carteri
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Pristurus carteri is a species of gecko in the genus Pristurus known as rock geckos. The name Pristurus means 'saw tailed' in Latin and carteri after the person who discovered this species.
There are two sub-species of Pristurus carteri. The first is Pristurus carteri carteri and the other is Pristerus carteri tuberculatis. P. c. carteri being the most common. It has many common names such as Ornate rock gecko, Carters rock gecko, and scorpion tailed gecko. It is native to Oman where it often is found basking on rocks or in urban areas. They 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 mimicking the movements a scorpion will use as a threat display; this and the tail waving is another way they get the common name Scorpion tailed geckos.
Members of the genus Pristurus are diurnal. This is unusual in geckos except in the genus's Phelsuma, Lygodactylus, Naultinus, Quedenfeldtia, Rhoptropus, all Sphaerodactylines and, of course, Pristurus [1]. They attain a average length of 5-6 cm snout to vent length and a total length of 8-9 cm. They obtain sexual maturity in roughly 10 months. They lay 1-2 hard shelled eggs that are incubated at 28°C for 70-90 days. The neonates hatch out at about 3 1/2 - 4cm.
Male P. carteri. Note the fleshy spikes on the tail. http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a221/blufender_5/geckos14pristurus012.jpg
Female P. carteri http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a221/blufender_5/geckos16pristurushenkelihemithyc-11.jpg
Male P. carteri resting on rock http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a221/blufender_5/geckos14pristurus008.jpg
Pristurus carteri habitat http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a221/blufender_5/biotope_pristurus1.jpg
[edit] References
- ^ Eric R. Pianka and Laurie J. Vitt, Lizards, windows to the evolution of diversity, 2003.
