Phyllurus platurus
—
Broad-tailed Gecko
Also known as:
Southern Leaf-tailed Gecko
I am a big fan of flat geckos that are superbly camouflaged. All of the ones I had seen before were primarily arboreal, including ones from Madagascar and ones from eastern Australia. This species is primarily saxicolous, fancy-talk for "hangs out on rocks rather than trees". My friend David Fischer led me to a rock outcrop where he had seen this species many times before, and we ended up finding several of them. They were confident enough of their camouflage to allow us to approach closely for pictures.
Printed references:
- Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles & Amphibians of Australia, Seventh Edition
- Wilson, S. and Swan, G. 2017. A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia, Fifth Edition