''Phyllurus'', from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

φύλλον (''phúllon''), meaning "leaf", and οὐρά (''ourá''), meaning "tail", is a small

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n leaf-tailed

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. They range from . Geckos are unique among lizards ...

lizards Lizard is the common name used for all 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 oceanic island chains. The ...

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 ...

Carphodactylidae The Carphodactylidae, informally known as the southern padless geckos, are a Family (biology), family of geckos, lizards in the infraorder Gekkota. The family consists of 34 described species in 7 Genus, genera, all of which are Endemism, endemic ...

. Rarely seen outside their native

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 ...

, they are notable for their highly effective

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

which is in part aided by the spiny

tubercle In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projectio ...

s that cover every body part. Most member

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), ...

, except for ''P. caudiannulatus'', ''P. gulbaru'' and ''P. kabikabi'', have very flattened,

leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

-shaped

tail The tail is the elongated section at the rear end of a bilaterian animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage extending backwards from the midline of the torso. In vertebrate animals that evolution, evolved to los ...

s. Some of these species have recently been reassigned to the genus '' Saltuarius''. The ''Phyllurus'' geckos resemble the ''

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

'' geckos of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. This is an example of

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 comm ...

because they are not closely related. As of 2023, Scawfell Island leaf-tailed gecko is the last known species of

to be found in

Species

The following species are recognized as being valid. www.reptile-database.org. *'' Phyllurus amnicola'' Couper, Schneider, Hoskin & Covacevich, 2000 – Mount Elliot leaf-tailed gecko *'' Phyllurus caudiannulatus'' Covacevich, 1975 – Bulburin leaf-tailed gecko *'' Phyllurus championae'' Couper, Schneider, Hoskin & Covacevich, 2000– Champion's leaf-tailed gecko *'' Phyllurus gulbaru'' Hoskin, Couper & Schneider, 2003 – Gulbaru leaf-tailed gecko *'' Phyllurus isis'' Couper, Covacevich & Moritz, 1993 – Mount Blackwood leaf-tailed gecko *'' Phyllurus kabikabi'' Couper, Hamley & Hoskin, 2008 – Oakview leaf-tailed gecko *'' Phyllurus nepthys'' Couper, Covacevich & Moritz, 1993 – Eungella leaf-tailed gecko *'' Phyllurus ossa'' Couper, Covacevich & Moritz, 1993 – Mackay Coast leaf-tailed gecko *'' Phyllurus pinnaclensis'' Hoskin, Bertola & Higgie, 2019 – Pinnacles leaf-tailed gecko *'' Phyllurus platurus'' ( Shaw, 1790) – broad-tailed gecko * '' Phyllurus fimbriatus'' Hoskin, 2023 - Scawfell Island leaf-tailed gecko The northern leaf-tailed gecko (previously ''Phyllurus cornutus'' Ogilby, 1892), is now placed in the genus '' Saltuarius''. ''

Nota bene ( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''. In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...

'': A

binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

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

Species

References

Further reading