Peringuey's leaf-toed gecko

Peringuey's Leaf-toed Gecko
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Gekkonidae
Genus: Cryptactites
Bauer et al., 1997
Species: C. peringueyi
Binomial name
Cryptactites peringueyi
(Boulenger, 1910)
Synonyms

Phyllodactylus peringueyi Boulenger, 1910

Peringuey's leaf-toed gecko, Cryptactites peringueyi, is a South African species of gecko named after Louis PĂ©ringuey. It is particularly tiny, not growing more than about 5 centimetres (2.0 in), making it the smallest lizard in the region, along with the Striped Dwarf Leaf-toed Gecko of the Western Cape. It has a red-brown body sometimes with thin, pale dark stripes. This leaf-toed gecko is nocturnal and lives in matted marsh vegetation where it lays two minute eggs in summer.

It is endemic to South Africa, being restricted to a few saltmarshes in the Eastern Cape. It was believed to be extinct for a long time, but a tiny population was rediscovered in 1992 by the estuary of the Kromme river.

References

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