The yellow-headed dwarf gecko or dwarf yellow-headed gecko (''Lygodactylus luteopicturatus'') is a small species of dwarf gecko found in the rocky areas of southern
Kenya
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, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
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, capital = Nairobi
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, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
, Somalia (maybe as an introduced species), eastern
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
, and
Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...
.
[''Lygodactylus luteopicturatus'']
The Reptile Database It can grow up to , but on average attains a length of with a snout-vent (body) length of . The tail length can be equal to the length of the body from snout to the anus (SVL or Snout-Vent Length).
The yellow-headed dwarf gecko has a defense mechanism called tail autotomy, where they drop their tails to flee to safety when they are attacked by a predator. However, tail autotomy only gives the gecko an immediate benefit to escape because an autotomized gecko is slower without its tail and has difficulty running on vertical surfaces.
References
* Broadley, D. G. & HOWELL, K. M. (1991). A checklist of the reptiles of Tanzania, with synoptic keys. Syntarsus, 1: 1—70
* Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. (2001). A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp
*
Lygodactylus
Reptiles described in 1964
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