Pink-bellied creature — with mosaic stripes — found under rock. See the new species
In the towering, rocky desert mountains of Tibet, boulders offer refuge to elusive small creatures.
As nocturnal reptiles, these animals spend their days escaping the hot and dry environment until it cools enough for them to emerge.
Researchers were scanning these rocks when they noticed a gecko hidden underneath, according to a study published Aug. 17 in the journal Animals.
Brown on the top of its body but sporting a pink belly, it was a new species.
Cyrtodactylus laevis, or the smooth bent-toed gecko, earned its name from the lack of tubercles, or bumps, on its body, and the notable angled toes found in geckos across the genus, according to the study.
Researchers said the two specimens found were of medium size, about 2 inches long from head to tail.
Their snout is rounded across the top, with “large” wide-set eyes on either side of the head, according to the study.
“(The) body is pink-brown, with four white-yellow transverse bands, with brown dots and black merges,” researchers said, and the belly is “pink-white, mosaiced with small taupe pigments on each scale.”
The stripes themselves also sport a mosaic pattern as variously colored scales create U-shaped bands around the body, according to the study.
The new species has only been found in the Jindong countryside of the autonomous region, researchers said, hiding under rocks at elevations of more than 10,000 feet.
Another related species, Altiphylax medogense, was abundant in the area, but only two members of the new species were found between 2023 and 2024, researchers said, “suggesting an extremely limited understanding not only of the population status but also the conservation efforts of C. laevis sp. Nov., which are essential to improve.”
Researchers said a long-term study of the region could help bring attention to these creatures.
The geckos were found in southeastern Tibet, an autonomous region in the Himalayas controlled by China, near a disputed China-India border.
