Paroedura lohatsara

Appearance

P. Lohatsara grow into their colors. As juveniles, they have brownish heads, black and white bands down their bodies, and a striped, orangey tail. As they mature, their coloration changes - the bands break up along their bodies, turning them into animals with a primarily light (yellowish) base color and black spotting. Oftentimes, the spotting will retain some semblance of striping, though it may tend to shift towards more lengthwise patterning.

Adults of this species generally reach an approximate length of five to six inches. The pads of their toes allow them to adhere and climb to the sides of their terrariums in captivity, particularly as youngsters, though as their size and weight increases with age they seem to prefer foliage and other available areas for climbing.

Range and habitat

This species is native to northern Madagascar, where it has been observed in Montagne des Français between the elevations of 140 and 320 m asl. It is found in old growth forest and does not seem to adapt to forest degradation. Paroedura lohatsara is a small-to-medium-sized geckos native to northern Madagascar where it is found on a single mountain range.

It is not currently a protected species under CITES, and is found in a reserve that is threatened significantly by human encroachment upon its natural habitat in the form of deforestation, primarily for logging.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Habits

This gecko is mainly nocturnal and is found on the ground, on boulders and in the lowest branches of trees.

In crisis

Because of its limited range and the ongoing destruction of its forest habitat, this species is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. Some individuals are kept in captivity in the United States and may act as a genetic resource if the gecko becomes extinct in the wild. This species is currently listed on the IUCN Red List as critically endangered.

In the US, there are a few known herpetologists who are working toward helping these animals reproduce in captivity to assist in creating a buffer zone between this animal's current population and their potential extinction.

Paroedura lohatsara is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Paroedura lohatsara, Wikidata item Q5086710. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.