Hemidactylus lankae
—
Sri Lankan Termite Hill Gecko
Also known as:
Sri Lanka Leaf-toed Gecko, Termite Hill Gecko
Thes Sri Lankan geckos were formerly considered to be part of Hemidactylus triedrus, and the current status of H. lankae as presently defined is at the very least shaky.
We found this chubby terrestrial gecko as it crept across a dirt road at night. This species likes to hang out in termite mounds and eat termites, which is certainly convenient.
Online references:
- Hemidactylus lankae account on The Reptile Database
- Hemidactylus lankae account on iNaturalist
- Zeeshan A. Mirza, Gaurang G. Gowande, Rishikesh Patil, Mayuresh Ambekar & Harshil Patel, 2018. First appearance deceives many: disentangling the Hemidactylus triedrus species complex using an integrated approach
Printed references:
- Somaweera, R., Somaweera, N. 2009. Lizards of Sri Lanka: A Colour Guide with Field Keys
- de Silva, A., Ukuwela, K. 2017. A Naturalist's Guide to the Reptiles of Sri Lanka