Researchers have discovered six new species of bent toed geckos – a type of small lizard – from North East India.
What differentiates geckos from the group of lizards is that they lay eggs in pairs instead of large clutches, and they have the ability to vocalize with chirps and barking noises. Most geckos also lack eyelids and have sticky toes that enable them to climb walls. The most species-rich genus of geckos globally with over 250 species. Not much is known of their natural history or ecology except that they are nocturnal and live on rocks.
The Guwahati bent-toed gecko is named Cyrtodactylus guwahatiensis after the city, making it the fourth lizard to be described from a major Indian city, the others being Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. Another is named after Nagaland as Cyrtodactylus nagalandensis, another as Cyrtodactylus kazirangaensis after Kaziranga National Park, and the largest bent-toed gecko is named Cyrtodactylus jaintiaensis after the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya. The remaining two are Cyrtodactylus montanus from the Jampui Hills of Tripura and Cyrtodactylus septentrionalis from Abhayapuri town in Bongaigaon District of Assam.
Picture Credit : Google
