Rough-bellied day gecko

The rough-bellied day gecko (Cnemaspis tropidogaster) is a species of day geckos found in the Western Ghats of India and Sri Lanka. Its distribution in the southern Western Ghats is patchy and relatively uncommon. It is active during the day. It has a distinct head, elongated snout, and keeled ventral scales; Its dark-brown dorsal side has transverse arrangement of light and dark variegations. It is pale brown/cream on its underside with spiny tubercles on its sides. Males have two to four preanal and three to six femoral pores.

Rough-bellied day gecko
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Gekkonidae
Genus: Cnemaspis
Species:
C. tropidogaster
Binomial name
Cnemaspis tropidogaster
(Boulenger, 1885)

Live populations of the frog was rediscovered nearly after 120 years from Sri Lanka in 2016 from a low elevation (50–80 m asl.) of the wet zone of Sri Lanka.[2]

Habitat and distribution

A relatively uncommon day active gecko from the midhills of the Central Province Knuckles Mountain Range and also from Sabaragamuwa Province and parts of the monsoon forests in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.

Ecology and diet

Diurnal and crepuscular species, often found in rocky substrates and low trunks of trees, and occasionally entering man-made structures, such as thatched huts and cowheads.

References
  1. de Silva, A. 2010. Cnemaspis tropidogaster. (errata version published in 2017) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T178508A109671123. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T178508A7560996.en. Downloaded on 04 January 2018.
  2. "The Re-discovery of Live Populations (Sauria, Gekkonidae) from Sri Lanka after 120 years". Novataxa. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885 Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. London: 450 pp.
  • Inger R F; Marx H; Koshy M 1984 An undescribed species of gekkonid lizard (Cnemaspis) from India with comments on the status of C. tropidogaster. Herpetologica 40 (2): 149-154
  • Taylor, E.H. 1953 A review of the lizards of Ceylon. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., Lawrence, 35: 1525-1585
  • Wermuth, H. 1965 Liste der rezenten Amphibien und Reptilien. Gekkonidae, Pygopodidae, Xantusiidae. Das Tierreich (80):1-246
  • Das, I. 2008 A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of India, page 88.


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