Calodactylodes aureus
Encyclopedia
The Indian golden gecko (Calodactylodes aureus) is a species of gecko
known only from the Tirumala hills in the Eastern Ghats
of India.
Digits slender at the base, free, with squarish scales beneath, with large trapezoidal penultimate and distal expansions, the lower surface of each of which is covered by two large plates separated by a longitudinal groove; all the digits clawed, the claw retractile between the distal plates; in the inner digit the penultimate expansion is absent. Body covered above with small granular scales, intermixed with larger tubercles; abdominal scales juxtaposed. Pupil vertical. No preanal or femoral pores.
Head large, oviform, very distinct from neck; a strong rounded supraorbital and canthal ridge; five deep concavities, via. a frontal, two postnasals, and two loreals; snout longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, 1.3 times the diameter of the orbit; ear-opening vertical, measuring half the diameter of the eye. Body not much depressed. Limbs long, slender. The width of the digital expansion measures about half the diameter of the eye. Head covered with very small granules, largest on the canthal ridges; rostral four-sided, twice as broad as high, its posterior border concave; nostril pierced between the rostral, the first labial, and three nasals, the anterior large and in contact with its fellow; 12 or 13 upper and as many lower labials; mental as large as the adjacent labials, or smaller than them; no regular chin-shields, but small polygonal scales passing gradually into the granules which cover the gular region. upper surface covered with minute granules; back with scattered, scarcely prominent, smooth, round, larger tubercles, hardly as large as the ventral scales; the latter flat, smooth, squarish, juxtaposed, arranged like the bricks of a wall. Tail long, cylindrical, remarkably slander, covered with squarish scales which are much larger beneath. Brownish white above (golden during life), dotted or vermiculated with brown; lower surfaces whitish.
From snout to vent 3.5 inches ; tail 3.2.
Habitat: Amongst rocks in dark shady ravines ou the Tirupati Hills.
Type locality: Tirupathi hills.(fide M.A. Smith 1935).
Gecko
Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm....
known only from the Tirumala hills in the Eastern Ghats
Eastern Ghats
The Eastern Ghats or Eastern Ghauts are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats run from West Bengal state in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south passing some parts of Karnataka. They are eroded and cut through by the...
of India.
Description
Head large, oviform, very distinct from neck; a strong rounded supraorbital and canthal ridge; five deep concavities, via. a frontal, two postnasals, and two loreals; snout longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, 1.3 times the diameter of the orbit; ear-opening vertical, measuring half the diameter of the eye. Body not much depressed. Limbs long, slender. The width of the digital expansion measures about half the diameter of the eye. Head covered with very small granules, largest on the canthal ridges; rostral four-sided, twice as broad as high, its posterior border concave; nostril pierced between the rostral, the first labial, and three nasals, the anterior large and in contact with its fellow; 12 or 13 upper and as many lower labials; mental as large as the adjacent labials, or smaller than them; no regular chin-shields, but small polygonal scales passing gradually into the granules which cover the gular region. upper surface covered with minute granules; back with scattered, scarcely prominent, smooth, round, larger tubercles, hardly as large as the ventral scales; the latter flat, smooth, squarish, juxtaposed, arranged like the bricks of a wall. Tail long, cylindrical, remarkably slander, covered with squarish scales which are much larger beneath. Brownish white above (golden during life), dotted or vermiculated with brown; lower surfaces whitish.
From snout to vent 3.5 inches ; tail 3.2.
Habitat: Amongst rocks in dark shady ravines ou the Tirupati Hills.
Type locality: Tirupathi hills.(fide M.A. Smith 1935).
External links
- http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Calodactylodes_aureus.jpg
- http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Calodactylodes_aureus2.jpg