Pristurus carteri, commonly known as Carter's rock gecko or Carter's semaphore gecko, is a species of gecko, a lizard in the family Sphaerodactylidae.

Pristurus carteri
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Sphaerodactylidae
Genus: Pristurus
Species:
P. carteri
Binomial name
Pristurus carteri
(Gray, 1863)[2]
Synonyms[3]
  • Spatalura carteri
    Gray, 1863
  • Pristurus carteri
    Boulenger, 1885

Etymology

edit

The generic name, Pristurus, means "saw-tailed" in Latin.[citation needed]

The specific name, carteri, is in honor of Dr. Henry Carter who collected the holotype.[4]

Subspecies

edit

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,[3] P. c. carteri being the more common.[citation needed]

Common names

edit

The species P. carteri has many common names such as Carter's rock gecko, ornate rock gecko, and scorpion-tailed gecko.[citation needed]

Geographic range and habitat

edit

P. carteri is native to Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen,[3] where it often is found basking on rocks or in urban areas.[citation needed]

Behavior

edit

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 source of the common name scorpion-tailed geckos.[citation needed]

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.[5]

Description

edit

P. carteri may attain an average snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in), and a total length (including tail) of 8–9 cm (3.1–3.5 in).[citation needed]

Reproduction

edit

P. carteri reaches sexual maturity in roughly 10 months. Adult females 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).[citation needed]

References

edit
  1. ^ Sindaco R, Wilms T, Mohammed SF (2012). "Pristurus carteri ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012: e.T199586A2605065. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012.RLTS.T199586A2605065.en. Downloaded on 21 February 2019.
  2. ^ "Pristurus carteri ". ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). www.itis.gov.
  3. ^ a b c Species Pristurus carteri at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  4. ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Pristurus carteri, p. 49).
  5. ^ Pianka ER, Vitt LJ (2003). Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. 346 pp. ISBN 978-0520234017. (Genus Pristurus, pp. 174, 179).

Further reading

edit
  • Boulenger GA (1885). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume I. Geckonidæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 436 pp. + Plates I-XXXII. (Pristurus carteri, pp. 55–56).
  • Gray JE (1863). "Description of a New Lizard obtained by Mr. Henry Carter on the South-east Coast of Arabia". Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1863: 236-237 + Plate XX, figure 2. (Spatalura carteri, new species).
  • Parker HW (1931). "Some Reptiles and Amphibians from S.E. Arabia". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Tenth Series 8: 514–522. (Pristurus carteri tuberculatus, new subspecies).