Painted Leopard Gecko:
A rare nocturnal reptile – a Painted Leopard Gecko – was recently spotted at Dilmili railway station in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district, drawing the attention of the forest department.
- Painted Leopard Gecko is a colourful terrestrial gecko species.
- Scientific Name: Eublepharis pictus
- Eublepharis is a small genus in the lizard family Eublepharidae, which contains 44 species in six genera distributed in parts of North and Central America, West and East Africa, Middle East, South Asia, and the Malayan Archipelago.
- First described in 1827, the genus is currently represented by seven species, of which five are known from India.
- It was scientifically described in 2022 from the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
- The Brahmani River, which runs through the Eastern Ghats, separates it geographically from the East Indian Leopard Gecko, with which it shares a lot of similar traits.
- It prefers dry evergreen forests mixed with scrub and meadows.
- It is strictly nocturnal, actively foraging along trails in forest after dusk.
