''Saltuarius'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of larger

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal ...

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

s, known collectively as leaf-tailed geckos. The genus was created in 1993 to accommodate some former members of the genus '' Phyllurus''. These geckos appear very similar to the ''

Uroplatus ''Uroplatus'' is a genus of geckos, commonly referred to as leaf-tail geckos or flat-tailed geckos, which are endemic to Madagascar and its coastal islands, such as Nosy Be. They are nocturnal, insectivorous lizards found exclusively in primary ...

'' geckos native to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. However, this is a

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

. The genus name is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

word '' saltuarius'', meaning "keeper of the forest".Cape Melville leaf-tailed gecko
Australian Reptile Online Database, 2013.

Habitat and distribution

The

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

in the genus ''Saltuarius'' inhabit Australia's eastern

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

al region, a vegetation composed of

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfo ...

s and dry

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of Flowering plant, flowering trees, shrubs or Mallee (habit), mallees in the Myrtaceae, myrtle Family (biology), family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the Tribe (biology) ...

forests. ''Saltuarius cornutus'' and ''Saltuarius swaini'' are

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose num ...

geckos, the remaining species live on rocky

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...

s. They all need a high level of relative air humidity. The species from southern regions must

hibernate Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It most ...

for several months at temperatures varying between and .

Reproduction

These species invariably lay soft-shelled

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

s which are buried in humid substrates.

Species

The following seven species are recognized as being valid."''Saltuarius'' ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. *'' Saltuarius cornutus'' ( Ogilby, 1892) – northern leaf-tailed gecko *'' Saltuarius eximius''

Hoskin Hoskin is a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Ashley Hoskin English footballer * Chuck Hoskin Jr. (born 1974/1975), tribal nation chief * Chuck Hoskin (born 1952), politician and father of Chuck Hoskin Jr. * Cyril Henry Hoskin (1910 ...

& Couper, 2013 – Cape Melville leaf-tailed gecko *'' Saltuarius kateae'' Couper et al., 2008 – Kate's leaf-tailed gecko *'' Saltuarius moritzi'' Couper et al., 2008 – Moritz's leaf-tailed gecko *'' Saltuarius salebrosus'' ( Covacevich, 1975) – rough-throated leaf-tailed gecko *'' Saltuarius swaini'' (

Wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada * Wells, British Columbia England * Wel ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

, 1985) – southern leaf-tailed gecko *'' Saltuarius wyberba'' Couper, Schneider & Covacevich, 1997 – granite leaf-tailed gecko The former ''Saltuarius occultus'' Couper, Covacevich & Moritz, 1993, the long-necked northern leaf-tailed gecko, is now ''

Orraya occultus ''Orraya'' is a monotypic genus of lizard in the family Carphodactylidae. The genus contains the sole species ''Orraya occultus'', also known commonly as the McIlwraith leaf-tailed gecko or the long-necked northern leaf-tailed gecko. The sp ...

''. ''

Nota bene (, or ; plural form ) is a Latin phrase meaning "note well". It is often abbreviated as NB, n.b., or with the ligature and first appeared in English writing . In Modern English, it is used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the atte ...

'': A

binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Saltuarius''.

References

External links

Lizard genera Geckos of Australia Taxa named by Jeanette Covacevich Taxa named by Patrick J. Couper Taxa named by Craig Moritz {{gecko-stub