Leviton's gecko (''Altiphylax levitoni)'' is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
lizard
Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...
in the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Gekkonidae
Gekkonidae (the common geckos) is the largest family of geckos, containing over 950 described species in 62 genera. The Gekkonidae contain many of the most widespread gecko species, including house geckos (''Hemidactylus''), the tokay gecko (''Ge ...
. The species is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to Asia.
Etymology
The
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''levitoni'', is in honor of American herpetologist
Alan E. Leviton (born 1930).
[ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Asiocolotes levitoni'', p. 157).]
Geographic range
''A. levitoni'' is found in northeastern Afghanistan.
[. www.reptile-database.org.]
Habitat
The preferred natural
habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
of ''A. levitoni'' is rocky areas of shrubland and forest, at altitudes of , but it has also been found on buildings and rock walls in villages.
Reproduction
''A. levitoni'' is
oviparous
Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...
.
[
]
References
Further reading
* Golubev ML, Szczerbak NN (1979). " Peters, 1880 genus (Reptilia, Sauria, Gekkonidae) from Afghanistan">Wilhelm_Peters.html" ;"title="ew species of ''Tropiocolotes'' Wilhelm Peters">Peters, 1880 genus (Reptilia, Sauria, Gekkonidae) from Afghanistan. ''Dopovidi Akademiyi Nauk Ukrayins'koyi SSR, Seriya B, Heolohichni Khimichni ta Biolohichni Nauky'' 1979 (4): 307–312. (''Tropiocolotes levitoni'', new species). (in Russian).
* Jablonski, Daniel; Regan, John M.; Holzheuser, Chace; Farooqi, Javeed; Basit, Abdul; Masroor, Rafaqat (2019). "Additional data to the herpetofauna of Afghanistan". ''Herpetozoa'' 32: 177–193. (in English, with abstracts in Pashto and Dari Persian).
* Rösler H (2000). "''Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha)''". ''Gekkota'' 2: 28–153. (''Tropiocolotes levitoni'', p. 118). (in German).
* Sindaco R, species:Valery Konstantinovich Eremchenko">Jeremčenko VK (2008). ''The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. 1. Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Turtles, Crocodiles, Amphisbaenians and Lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia''. (Monographas of the ''Societas Herpetologica Italica''). Latina, Italy: Edizioni Belvedere. 580 pp. . (''Altiphylax levitoni'', new combination).
Altiphylax
Reptiles described in 1979
{{Gekkonidae-stub