Common name: Bar-tailed Semaphore Gecko

Scientific name: Pristurus celerrimus

Family: Sphaerodactylidae

Size:

SVL: 40 mm

Tail: about 1.7–2 times the SVL

Identification:

A small, slender gecko with a distinctly flattened head and body and a relatively large head. Eyes with round pupils; the nostrils touch the scale at the tip of the snout. Long, slender limbs and small granular scales on the back. Upperparts light brown or grey, sometimes plain but usually with yellowish spots on the head and limbs; a reddish line runs from the nostril through the eye to above the ear, and the flanks sometimes show broken reddish-dark lines. The tail is long and slender, flattened from side to side without a fringe of enlarged scales, and has conspicuous dark bars. Underside white; males have dark patches in front of and behind the vent.

Habitat:

Rocky areas of the Hajar Mountains: rocks, boulders and occasionally old houses. Ranges from the tip of the Musandam Peninsula to the Jebel Akhdar massif; not recorded from the Eastern Hajars. In the UAE found from sea level up to about 1,400 m.

Status in the UAE:

Native. Abundant throughout the Hajar Mountains of the UAE. Endemic to the Hajar Mountains shared by the UAE and Oman, not to the UAE alone.

Diet:

Feeds mainly on ants, and also on other arthropods.

Behavior:

Diurnal and rock-dwelling. Signals to others by raising the body with the hind end higher, inflating and side-flattening the body and throat, and raising and lowering the straight tail several times; its tail signalling is less developed than in the Rock Semaphore Gecko group. Females lay a single hard-shelled egg, several times through the year. Not venomous.

Conservation status:

UAE National Red List: Least Concern (LC)

Global: Least Concern (LC)