''Gehyra pulingka'' (occasionally referred to as the rock-dwelling dtella, and more rarely the Umuwa spotted dtella) is a species of

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 ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

to Australia. It occurs in north-west

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, the mid

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

, and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

to the eastern

Rawlinson Ranges Purli Yurliya or Rawlinson Ranges is a mountain range in the far east of central Western Australia, to the west of the Petermann Ranges, with which it is commonly associated. Both features were given their European names by Ernest Giles, the fir ...

. It is described as being generally dark-skinned with a pattern of light and dark markings over its body; however, light-skinned variants with similar patterns have been found.

Etymology

The species name comes from the

Pitjantjatjara language Pitjantjatjara (; or ) is a dialect of the Western Desert language traditionally spoken by the Pitjantjatjara people of Central Australia. It is mutually intelligible with other varieties of the Western Desert language, and is particularly ...

, from the words ''puli'', meaning 'rock' or 'hill', and the suffix of ''ngka'', meaning 'of', or 'pertaining to'.

References

Gehyra Geckos of Australia Endemic fauna of Australia Reptiles described in 2014 Taxa named by Steve Donnellan (scientist) Taxa named by Mark Norman Hutchinson {{Gehyra-stub