New Gecko Discovered
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 1st, 2008
Photograph of the related species, Hemidactylus turcicus.
A new species of a rock-dwelling lizard has been discovered by the Bombay Natural History Society from Junnar taluka in Pune district, India.
The species belongs to genus Hemidactylus.
This distinctive gecko species is mostly found on the rock cliffs in the north western ghats, an official release from BNHS stated.
This new species was first photographed by Pune herpetologist Ashok Captain, who forwarded the same to Varad Giri, a scientist with the Bombay Natural History Society at Mumbai.
Giri worked on the photographs and subsequently Captain, Giri and fellow researcher Aparna Watwe from Pune conducted a search and reported more specimens from that region.
Giri later forwarded the details of the species to Aaron Bauer of USA’s Villanova University, who is an expert on lizards and an authority in this group.
Giri submitted his findings of the species to a scientific journal, Hamdryad and named this new species as Hemidactylus aaronbaueri, honoring Baeur, the release said.
In India, there are 21 species in this genus. This new lizard from Maharashtra is interestingly the largest species of Hemidactylus from India, the release added.
Source: The Hindu, Thursday, May 1, 2008.
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According to this site (http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/New-species-of-lizard-found-in-Pune/303995/):
The new species has leaf-shaped, bristle-like structures at the base of its foot which are well-developed, indicating that it can scale walls and ceilings easily, although the scientist said the new gecko was not a home-dwelling creature; they have so far studied more than 20 individual geckos of this species in the rocky cliffs.
It looks the same as any other Gecko in Texas…
The gecko in the picture probably is the same as the ones you see in Texas-it’s a Mediterranean Gecko, which can now be seen throughout the Gulf Coast region and much of the Southeast. I see (and hear) them every summer. The new species is a close relative of this species.
Cute little critter, regardless.
It is always good to find new species of ANYTHING.