Re: [Gecko] Stenodactylus

[Robert Gundy]

That does help some, yes. In that link that I included, are those petrii or orientalis? Judging by what you said about having lateral stripes, I guess they're petrii? I wish the petri/sthenodactylus that have alot of sm orange spots or flecks were larger. I think they would be much nicer vivarium subjects. Thank you for the info. By the way, where do you get acess to these papers? I'd love to read some on Uroplatus and whatever else I could get my hands on, ya know. --- Tony Gamble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello Robert, > You have every reason to be confused. Don't worry > though, things are > slowly being sorted out. > > First, Crossobamon orientalis... > These do not seem to be coming in as much as was > originally thought. > They are easily distinguishable from Stenodactylus > by the smattering > of enlarged scales across their back. C. orientalis > are occasionally > exported from Pakistan but never, it seems, in large > numbers. > > Now, Stenodactylus... The vast majority of > Stenodactylus in the pet > trade are coming in from Egypt. The problems > associated with > identifying these geckos stem from two main > problems. First, the > presence of intraspecific variation and/or > undescribed species. There > are, as you mentioned, two distinct forms of S. > sthenodactylus, the > round or blunt-nosed variety and the pig-nosed or > tube-nosed variety. > These are, in all likelihood, different species. > There is also a lot > of variation across north Africa. S. petrii from > Egypt will of course > have differences from a S. petrii from Morocco (a > distance equal to > the distance between Charleston, North Carolina to > Los Angeles) even > if they are the same species. This variation makes > keying the animals > out difficult (see the next paragraph) and it also > makes it difficult > for people to believe that some seemingly different > looking geckos are > in fact the same species (even if they really > aren't). > > Second, a lack of access to the literature for much > of the > herpetocultural public and few adequate keys to the > genus make > accurate identification difficult if not impossible. > One well > known key (that has caused quite a bit of trouble > for me, at least) is > found in Schleich, Kastle, and Kabisch's book > "Amphibians and Reptiles > of North Africa." Their detailed species > descriptions and most > prominent key covers herps from Libya where the > authors have done much > of their work. That key can not consistently > distinguish between S. > petrii and S. sthenodactylus from Egypt. That book > uses differences in > nasal scalation to differentiate the two species in > Libya. There are > two problems with this. First, the S. petrii in > Libya have been recently > redescribed as S. stenurus. Second, there are > apparently two forms of > S. sthenodactylus in Egypt that have dramatic > differences in their > nasal scalation (the above mentioned round or > blunt-nosed variety and > the pig-nosed or tube-nosed variety). Given that > variation, this key > is useless. > > The new GGA photo page seems to reflect this current > thinking so I > urge you to check it out. In general though the big > geckos with the > stripe down the side are S. petrii while all the > various others are S. > sthenodactylus which, as it is currently described, > is probably a > complex of several species. Rumor has it that an > upcoming "Gekko" > article will deal with this issue in more detail so > stay tuned. > > I hope this helps. > > -- > Best regards, > Tony > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > ########################################################################### > THE GLOBAL GECKO ASSOCIATION > LISTSERV > WebSite: www.gekkota.com Archive: > [EMAIL PROTECTED]/ > The GGA takes no responsibility for the contents > of these postings. > ########################################################################### >

Robert
Robert Gundy Reptiles

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