''Ramigekko swartbergensis'', sometimes called the Swartberg (African) leaf-toed gecko, is a species of African

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 ...

which is a localized endemic of the

Cape Fold Belt The Cape Fold Belt is a fold and thrust belt of late Paleozoic age, which affected the sequence of sedimentary rock layers of the Cape Supergroup in the southwestern corner of South Africa. It was originally continuous with the Ventana Moun ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It is monotypic in the genus ''Ramigekko''.

Anatomy

Like other "leaf-toed" geckoes, they have a single pair of enlarged adhesive pads on the terminally end of each digit. Only this species however has smoothed and flattened tubercles on its dorsal parts. The head has a deeper contour and some cranial differences (fusion of nasal and parietal bones) set them apart from most other gecko species.

Range and habitat

It is found along the crests of the

Swartberg The Swartberg mountains (''black mountain'' in Afrikaans) are a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid Little ...

and Klein Swartberg ranges, from Towerkop in the west to the vicinity of

Meiringspoort Meiringspoort (Afrikaans for "Meiring's pass") is a South African mountain pass on the N12 national road, where it crosses the Swartberg mountain range. Geography The pass is a gateway that connects the Little Karoo and the Great Karoo, throug ...

. They favour north-facing

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

outcrops in montane

fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

, from 1,300 to 2,100 m a.s.l. They occur in protected areas and are not endangered.

Habits

They hide in rock cracks or under rock flakes, emerging to feed on insects. Like all "leaf-toed" geckoes they are nocturnal and lay hard-shelled eggs, which are deposited in clutches of two.

References

Gekkonidae Monotypic lizard genera Reptiles described in 1996 {{Gekkonidae-stub