LIZARDS OF THE WET TROPICS

Chameleon Gecko (Carphodactylus laevis)

DISTRIBUTION:

North-eastern Queensland, from Mt Finnigan south to Kirrima.

HABITAT:

Highland rainforest.

DESCRIPTION (from Cogger, 1992; Wilson and Knowles, 1988):

A slender, lightly-built lizard with spindly limbs, a compressed body and tail and a distinctive vertebral ridge from the nape to the tail. The body scales are small and homogeneous. The dorsal surface is a rich brown colour, flecked with small, paler brown spots and black flecks. The snout is pale brown above and the top of the head is a darker brown. There is a broad blackish streak from the snout to the eye and a narrow black streak from behind the eye over the pale tympanum. A pale labial streak also merges with the tympanum. Original tails are dark brown to black, with four or five narrow white crossbands. Regenerated tails are brown with darker speckles. The ventral surface is purplish-white with a peppering of darker grey-brown. SVL = 130mm.

BREEDING:

One or two parchment shelled eggs.

DIET:

Unknown.

NOTES:

Nocturnal. Hides in the leaf litter, in hollow limbs, decaying trunks and buttresses and epiphytes by day. Forages among low vegetation and debris on the forest floor.

REFERENCES:

Cogger, H. G. 1992. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. Reed Books, Sydney.

Ehmann, H. 1992. Encyclopedia of Australian Animals. Angus and Robertson, Sydney.

Nix, H. and Switzer, M. A. 1991. Rainforest Animals: Atlas of the Vertebrates Endemic to Australia's Wet Tropics. Kowari, Canberra.

Wilson, S. K. and Knowles, D. G. 1988. Australia's Reptiles; a photographic reference to the terrestrial reptiles of Australia. Collins, Sydney.

Prepared by: Geordie Torr, Dept. of Zoology, James Cook University, QLD 4811, Australia.

Geordie.Torr1@jcu.edu.au

Last updated: April, 1995.