Mansur Al Fahad sent me a number of photos of
different lizards he took near his Village of Al Thweer which is located about
40 kilometres northwest of zulfi town in the deep of sands called Nafud Al
Thwart. Mansur has kindly allowed me to use his photographs on my website with Rough-tailed Bowfoot Gecko Cyrtopodion scaber, Middle Eastern Short-fingered Gecko stenodactylus doriae & Schmidt’s Fringe-toed Lizard
Acanthodactylus
schmidti reproduced below. The
Rough-tailed Bowfoot Gecko Cyrtopodion scabrum is a small, nocturnal
ground gecko, with exceptionally long, angular toes. The head is flattened
downwards, and the eyes are large, lacking eyelids, with vertical pupils that
can be contracted during the day to prevent light from damaging the retina. The
tail is longer than the head and body and is relatively flat and tapered, with
rows of prominent keeled scales and a series of ridged, wart-like bumps, called
tubercles, which are arranged regularly along the length of the back. It is
sandy in colour and whiter underneath, marked with regular brown spots on the
body, and brown bands on the tail. They are active during the night, hunting
for small insects such as ants, termites, beetles, moths, and grasshoppers,
often foraging in artificially lit areas, often associated with human
habitation, where it picks off insects that are attracted to the light. They
are distributed throughout southwest Asia, including south east Turkey, Iraq,
the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is primarily found in
disturbed habitats such as towns, oil camps and desert farms and also lives in
homes in villages, but is very rare in cities
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| Rough-tailed Bowfoot Gecko |
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| Rough-tailed Bowfoot Gecko |
The Middle Eastern Short-fingered
Gecko Stenodactylus doriae is
a common Gecko in the sands of Zulfi and has the local name Abras Bar, meaning
desert gecko. This photo was taken by Mansur in Zulfi and he has kindly allowed
me permission to use it on my website as well as provided details on the Gecko.
It is a large desert-dwelling sand gecko,
growing up to 8 centimetres in length, well-adapted to its desert habitat, with
eyes bordered by large scales to protect from sand while burrowing, and
flattened toes, with a projecting fringe of long scales, to increase surface
area contact with the loose substrate. They are pale sandy above, marked with
indistinct dark transverse bands and a darker line running from the eyes down
each side, and are whitish below. The eyes are large, and the tail is long and
cylindrical, tapering to a fine point. They are active at night when they are
often encountered walking slowly across the desert with thier body raised high
off the ground. Prey, located by sight, mainly comprises insects and arachnids,
which are caught by active pursuit or by remaining still and using an ambush
strategy. The inhabit the Middle East
and Arabian Peninsula and can be found in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, The
United Arab Emirates, Oman and Jordan and are normally found on the loose,
wind-blown sands of dunes and sandy plains
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| Middle Eastern Short-fingered Gecko |
Schmidt's Fringed-toed Lizard
Acanthodactylus
schmidti is one of the most abundant species in the genus
Acanthodactylus
found in Saudi Arabia and occupies sandy plains, dunes and sabkhas (salt
flats), particularly in areas of scrubby vegetation. It was named after Karl
Patterson Schmidt, with a type locality of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and it can be
distinguished by the exceptionally long fourth toe found on each of its rear
feet. As its name suggests it has 'fringes' of elongated scales along the sides
of each toe, which are thought to provide better traction on loose sand. It has
a light brown or coffee coloured back that is richly speckled with oval-shaped,
pale or white spots and can grow to 18 centimetres in length. They have a
cylindrical body with smooth, rectangular scales on the belly that are arranged
in well-defined rows and scales on the head that are larger than those on the
rest of the body. Little is known about the biology of the species but it is
thought that its main prey is ants and when prey is located they instantly go
rigid, suddenly quiver their tail and strike. It is a diurnal species that digs
burrows in the sand among the roots of vegetation and is found throughout the
Arabian Peninsula including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait,
Oman, south-east Iraq and south-west Iran.
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| Schmidt's Fringed-toed Lizard |
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| Schmidt's Fringed-toed Lizard |
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| Schmidt's Fringed-toed Lizard tracks |
