Diplodactylus vittatus

[zen]

Commonly known as a Stone or Wood Gecko, this little species is a real character. They stand up with their belly off the ground when they feel threatened and "bark".

These two shots are of the same specimen.
They illustrate how much lighting effects colour in photographs.
The first shot is with a flash, which tends to bleach the colours.
The second shot is taken in natural sunlight, just before sunset, hence the warm tones.

 

[jordo]

Nice gecko Zen, how big do they get? Is that one a female?

 

[Davem54]

nice little fella, good pics Zen

 

[zen]

Hi Jordo and Dave. I'm glad you like the pics. I've got some better shots if you want to see them. These two pics show how important lighting is.

The adults average just 5 cm snout-vent length, with a total of about 8 cm. Though some references put the total at 6-7 cm.
A relatively small species but they've got heaps of attitude initially. They quickly lose this defensive behaviour though.
This specimen is a gravid female I think.

 

[Davem54]

I seem to remember them at Springwood when I was a kid, would that be right???

 

[zen]

Spot on Dave 8)
This one is a Springwood specimen. Lucky guess mate!

 

[zen]

Here's another one.

 

[Davem54]

Your camera is just humming zen. Great. Took this with my new camera ,lowlight , no flash

 

[zen]

Nice one Dave. Great shot under those conditions.

Although we're going off topic here, I'm curious as to what species of Litoria it is? I can't quite tell from the pic.

Did it have tiny green dots like this Litoria peronii?

 

[Davem54]

Yes thats the one that I often find around home. I am sure my pic is the same one . Dave

 

[zen]

Litoria peronii

Cool. 8) Thanks for the confirmation.
I've seen amazing leaps of 2-3 metres, albiet from a higher branch to a lower one, with extraordinary accuracy. Very impressive nonetheless.

 

[zen]

Back to the Stone Gecko now.
Here's a pic that shows the raised body strut that gives these little fellows such charm.

 

[zulu]

re Diplodactylus

Nice gex zen,say hello to Dr tonk and tiliqua for me

 

[MrBredli]

Found this one at Glenbrook about 5 years ago

 

[Sdaji]

Stone Geckoes became one of my favourite species after I found one in central NSW a few years ago. I didn't realise it at the time, but it was quite unusual and I suspect it was actually a different species (this whole group has been split up substantially and no doubt more splits will come). As I didn't realise it was unusual,and back then I wasn't really interested in taking photographs, I didn't bother photographing it, which I now kick myself for.

Here is a very nice one (at least I thought so), from a population which will probably remain in D.vittatus.

I haven't seen them around Sydney, are the ones you've photographed fairly typical of the area? I've seen vittatus in Victoria which look somewhat intermediate between the ones you've displayed and the one in my picture. I have pictues of a fair few vittatus which I can post if people are interested.

 

[Dicco]

Sdaji, I'd love to see your vittatus pics,

 

[MrBredli]

I've found heaps of D. vittatus all over Sydney, and they have generally all looked the same as the ones pictured above (excluding yours Sdaji).

 

[Sdaji]

Thanks, MrBredli.

Does anyone have pictures of them from other localities?

 

[Rennie]

Very cute little critters, its hard to believe those first 2 pics are the same gecko.

 

[zen]

That's a superb pic Sdaji. Magnificent shot of a gorgeous specimen!
What camera did you use?
I'd love to see more of your pics.

MrBredli, your Glenbrook specimen looks very similar to the Springwood one. Not surprising, considering it's just up the road.
The reduced dorsal "zig-zag" of Blue Mountains specimens seems characteristic of the area.
Whereas, I've caught a specimen in Turramurra on the North Shore of Sydney that had a stronger, more classic zig-zag down the back. But that was 20 years ago so the memory is unreliable as I didn't take pics.

Here's a shot of the same specimen that reveals a lovely softness intrinsic to this species. They are velvet to the touch and even my partner thinks they're cute. :wink: