''Hemidactylus curlei'', also known
commonly as the northern leaf-toed gecko or Parker's gecko, is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...
in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
Gekkonidae. The species is native to the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
.
Etymology
The
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''curlei'', may be in honor of amateur naturalist A.T. Curle (died 1981), who was a consular official in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
and
Somaliland
Somaliland,; ar, صوماليلاند ', ' officially the Republic of Somaliland,, ar, جمهورية صوماليلاند, link=no ''Jumhūrīyat Ṣūmālīlānd'' is a ''de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still conside ...
.
Geographic range
''H. curlei'' is found in Ethiopia and Somaliland.
Habitat
The preferred natural
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
of ''H. curlei'' is rocky areas in
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
, at altitudes of .
[
]
Description
Dorsally, ''H. curlei'' is yellowish with purplish black markings. Ventrally, it is white. The holotype
A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...
has a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of .[ Parker HW (1942).]
Reproduction
''H. curlei'' is oviparous
Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...
.[
]
References
Further reading
* Largen MJ, Spawls S (2010). ''Amphibians and Reptiles of Ethiopia and Eritrea''. Frankfurt am Main: Edition Chimaira / Serpents Tale. 694 pp. . (''Hemidactylus curlei'', p. 294).
* Loveridge A (1947). "Revision of the African Lizards of the Family Gekkonidae". ''Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College'' 98: 1–469 + Plates 1–7. (''Hemidactylus curlei'', pp. 162–163).
* Parker HW (1942). "The Lizards of British Somaliland (With an appendix on Topography and Climate by Capt. R. H. R. Taylor, O. B. E.)". ''Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College'' 91 (1): 1–101. (''Hemidactylus curlei'', new species, p. 24).
* Rösler H (2000). "''Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha)''". ''Gekkota'' 2: 28–153. (''Hemidactylus curlei'', p. 85). (in German).
curlei
Reptiles of Ethiopia
Reptiles of Kenya
Reptiles described in 1942
Taxa named by Hampton Wildman Parker
{{Hemidactylus-stub