Re: [Gecko] OT-luminescent lizards

[Peter Mudde]

They made it seem like the little lizards were very rare, which may be true.  In my expeirence of wild teiids, they are very active and very alert, and very keen.  They may simply dissapear before the scientist even saw them.  In Costa Rica,  near Manuel Antonio, I observed several Amveia undulata ssp.  These are teiides that grow between 5-8 inches and are very active.  While walking on trails in the NAtional park, if I sat down and waited a few mintes, these lizards would crawl out  of the bushes and feed, breed, and fight.  When you get up, they do not mind, it is only when you get with in one foot of them..  However, when walking up trails, they scatter before you can see them.  Amevia festivia and an other species I couldn't ID, were also present under the same circustances, but festivia is most likely encountered on beaches were clumps of fallen palm frounds are gathered. ! &n! bsp;I am sure many people are familiar with the whip-tails of N. America.  These too are related to the Luminscent lizard.   Not quite, The luminous lizard is Proctoporus shrevei, which belongs to the Gymnophthalmidae, a group formerly included in the teiidae, but a league of their own. These are mostly very shy small lizards, mostly encounteren when digging a way heaps of cocoashells or layers of leaves. (Which by the way is the way to find a lot of gekkoes too). Their habit and looks differ quite a lot from the Ameiva's you mention (btw.. I haven't sen Ameiva undulata in Manuel Antonio, plenty of festiva, leptophrys and Cnemidophorus lemniscatus) However, there was once on 'frognet' a note on transplanting the luminance gene from fireflies into frogs... A gecko attracting moths by its own light would have an advantage..       Peter Mudde   Hoofdredactie 'onder het Palmblad' see :  www.palmblad.com They made it seem like the little lizards were very rare, which may be true.  In my expeirence of wild teiids, they are very active and very alert, and very keen.  They may simply dissapear before the scientist even saw them.  In Costa Rica,  near Manuel Antonio, I observed several Amveia undulata ssp.  These are teiides that grow between 5-8 inches and are very active.  While walking on trails in the NAtional park, if I sat down and waited a few mintes, these lizards would crawl out  of the bushes and feed, breed, and fight.  When you get up, they do not mind, it is only when you get with in one foot of them..  However, when walking up trails, they scatter before you can see them.  Amevia festivia and an other species I couldn't ID, were also present under the same circustances, but festivia is most likely encountered on beaches were clumps of fallen palm frounds are gathered. ! &n! bsp;I am sure many people are familiar with the whip-tails of N. America.  These too are related to the Luminscent lizard.