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Concept
Geckolepis
Summary
Geckolepis is a genus of geckos, commonly referred to as fish scale geckos, which are endemic to Madagascar and the Comoro Islands. They are nocturnal, arboreal, insectivorous lizards, found in primary and secondary forest, as well as degraded habitats. They are best known for their ability to lose their skin and scales when grasped by a predator.
The scales of Geckolepis are imbricated (overlapping) and ossified. Histological studies on the scales were performed as early as 1911 by Wilhelm Josef Schmidt. Schmidt noted the heterogeneity and imbrication of the scales, which makes meristics difficult on Geckolepis. Schmidt noted that the imbrication of the scales was a result of their folding, essentially being bilayered rather than monolayered. He showed also that the scale centres are ossified, formed from irregular crystals, which he illustrated in some detail. In their micro-CT scans, Scherz et al. found that the scales of G. megalepis and other species have the same degree of x-ray attenuation as bone, and concluded that this suggested the presence of osteoderm as well. They noted that, like in Schmidt's illustrations, a zone toward the tip of the scales lacks ossifications as visible in micro-CT scans. Paluh et al. studied the osteoderm of Geckolepis cf. maculata using micro-CT and histology, and compared it to other geckos known to have osteoderm, namely Gekko gecko and Tarentola mauritanica. They found that the osteoderms differ strongly from those of the other gecko species that possess them, and represent a third independent convergent derivation of osteoderm in geckos. The osteoderm of Geckolepis somewhat resembles that of the Gerrhosauridae or 'plated lizards'.
The scales of Geckolepis were known to come off already in the 19th century; Alfred Voeltzkow in 1983 described capturing specimens with bundles of cotton to avoid the scales coming off. Once lost, scales are regenerated, and eventually the regenerated scales are indistinguishable from original ones.
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