Subfamily EUBLEPHARINAE - Eyelid Geckos

Scientific Name 

Common Name 

Distribution

Size 

Notes 

Aeluroscalabotes

Aeluroscalabotes felinus

Malaysian Cat Gecko

SE Asia inc. Thailand, Malaya and Indonesia

7"

Very rare and unusual gecko that is arboreal, unlike the rest of the eublepharids which are strictly terrestrial. The few imported have proved delicate, prone to dehydration and heavily parasitised, but recently there has been some success, including breeding, with this species. DeVosjoli recommends a well-ventilated and fairly humid plastic storage container with a substrate of potting soil and an area of green moss. As they are easily stressed, Cat Geckos are best kept singly. In some ways their behaviour, temperament and to a certain degree structure (opposable digits for clinging to vegetation) are reminiscent of chameleons. Scalation details: all the scales uniform, small, flat granules. Rostral broad and low, separated from the nostril, which is pierced between two larger anterior nasals, the first labial, and small granules posteriorly; two large internasals followed by three other plates; 13 upper and as many lower labials, the latter in contact with another series of equally large plates; mental small, very low. Tail: short, rounded, vertically oval when intact, ending in a very obtuse point, prehensile. Other: body slender. Head depressed, elongate, very distinct from neck; snout pointed, longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, one and one third the diameter of the orbit; ear opening small, suboval, oblique. Body long, not depressed. Limbs long and thin. Coloration: brown above, with two dorsal series of more or less distinct lighter, dark-edged roundish spots ; sometimes scattered white dots on the sides of the body, forming spots on the tail (spec, b); upper lip whitish; lower surfaces whitish, brown dotted. Reproduction: males have preanal pores in an angular series [SOURCES: Boulenger] B I

A. f. felinus

A. f. multituberculatus

Borneo (Sunda Islands)

Described by F Kopstein in 1927. Scalation details: on each side of the dorsal line on the neck and back, 2 rows of flat tubercles each equivalent in size to 3-4 dorsal scales; these rows are not regular; on the forward third of the body there also individual lateral tubercles; 13 supralabials, 10 or 12 sublabials; 16 preanal pores. Other: ear opening substantially smaller than in A. f. felinus. Coloration: upper surfaces red-brown; whitish dorsal line, indicated by a row of small, light, dark-edged spots; supralabials white; undersides yellowish with brown dots. [SOURCE: Kopstein]