The carrot-tail viper gecko (''Hemidactylus imbricatus'') is a species of
gecko
Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from .
Geckos ar ...
.
[ It is found in ]Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and possibly India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,[ although the Indian records are questionable.][
]
Taxonomy
This species was formerly known as ''Teratolepis fasciata'', but after ''Teratolepis'' was brought to synonymy
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
with ''Hemidactylus'', this species would have become a junior secondary homonym of ''Hemidactylus fasciatus
The banded leaf-toed gecko (''Hemidactylus fasciatus'') is a species of gecko. It is endemic to West Africa west of the Dahomey Gap
In West Africa, the Dahomey Gap refers to the portion of the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic that extends all the ...
'' Gray 1842. Thus a ''nomen novum
In biological nomenclature, a ''nomen novum'' (Latin for "new name"), new replacement name (or replacement name, new substitute name, substitute name) is a scientific name that is created specifically to replace another scientific name, but only w ...
'' was needed.[
]
Description
Body somewhat depressed; limbs rather long and slender. Head covered with polygonal flat scales. Seven lower labials; mental large, triangular; two larger anterior chin-shields, in contact behind the mental, followed by others passing gradually into the small gular granules. Dorsal scales large, lozenge-shaped, slightly keeled; ventral scales much smaller, smooth. Tail depressed, swollen, tapering at the end, covered with imbricate irregular scales, some of those of the upper surface being extremely large. Greyish above, with five brown longitudinal bands, which at regular intervals are interrupted by white spots forming cross bands; seven of these cross bands on the neck and trunk.[Boulenger, G. A. 1890. Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Batrachia.]
Head and body 1.5 inches in length. The species has been noted from Jalna in the Deccan region according to Boulenger but this may refer to the white-striped viper gecko.
References
imbricatus
Reptiles of Pakistan
Reptiles described in 2008
Taxa named by Thomas C. Jerdon
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