Baluch Ground Gecko \ Bunopus tuberculatus

The Baluch Ground Gecko (Bunopus tuberculatus) is a nocturnal, ground-dwelling gecko native to the United Arab Emirates. It is widespread across the country's arid desert areas from sea level up to about 400 m. Gravel plains are its principal UAE habitat, and despite the pressures those plains have faced, it remains reasonably common there. Beyond the Emirates its range stretches from Pakistan, southern Afghanistan and Turkmenistan through Iran and the Levant to Arabia.

This gecko has a moderately flattened body and a snout–vent length of around 5.7 cm. Round, raised granules cover the head. The eyes are large, with vertical pupils that have irregular edges. The back carries about 14 rows of large, strongly keeled, three-sided tubercles. Its colour varies from light brown to greyish with irregular darker blotches or bars, and a dark stripe runs from the nostril through the eye to the back of the head. The toes are slender and lack toepads.

After dark it hunts insects and other arthropods across gravel plains, compacted or loose sand and sandy sabkhas with sparse vegetation. Females lay one or two hard-shelled eggs under stones or in burrows. Its patterned, tubercle-studded skin rewards a patient photographer with striking night-time close-ups.