Bar-tailed Semaphore Gecko \ Pristurus celerrimus

The Bar-tailed Semaphore Gecko (Pristurus celerrimus) is a small, slender gecko of the Hajar Mountains, the range the United Arab Emirates shares with Oman. It belongs to the family Sphaerodactylidae and lives from the tip of the Musandam Peninsula south to the Jebel Akhdar massif. In the UAE it is native and abundant throughout the Hajar Mountains, from sea level up to about 1,400 m. It is a day-active rock dweller of rocks and boulders, and is occasionally found on old houses. Look for a clearly flattened head and body, a relatively large head and long, slender limbs. The upperparts are light brown or grey, usually with yellowish spots on the head and limbs, and a reddish line runs from the nostril through the eye to above the ear. The long, slender tail is flattened from side to side and carries conspicuous dark bars, which give the species its name. Males have dark patches on the white underside in front of and behind the vent. Adults measure about 40 mm from snout to vent. As the name semaphore suggests, these geckos signal to one another: an individual raises its body with the hind end higher, puffs out and flattens its body and throat, and lifts and lowers its straight tail several times. Its tail signalling is considered less developed than in the Rock Semaphore Gecko group. It feeds mainly on ants and other arthropods, and females lay a single hard-shelled egg several times through the year. The gecko photographed here was keeping to the rocks on a mountain top in the Hajar range, a rewarding small lizard to watch and photograph.