Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko

Dressed as a Dead Leaf

The satanic leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus) is a lizard in dead-leaf disguise. It comes in mottled shades of brown, grey or rust to match different kinds of dead leaves, and its flattened tail closely resembles a dead leaf, complete with apparent decay and missing pieces. Its camouflage includes patches that resemble lichen, ridges that look like leaf veins, and missing chunks that mimic bits of a dead leaf that have broken off. It has large eyes with vertical pupils, and above each eye, pointy scales resemble horns. It is also called the phantastic leaf-tailed gecko.

One of the Smallest Leaf-Tailed Geckos

Uroplatus phantasticus is one of the smallest of Madagascar’s leaf-tailed geckos, a genus found nowhere else on Earth. It is usually around 9 centimetres (3.5 inches) long, and its body alone measures 55 to 70 millimetres from snout to vent. Individuals in human care can live up to 15 years. It spends its days asleep and its nights active, keeping to the trees and shrubs of Madagascar’s eastern rainforests and rarely climbing more than about 10 feet (3 meters) off the ground.

A Loud, Red-Mouthed Bluff

When confronted, this gecko opens wide. Faced with a bird or snake that might eat it, it gapes to flash a bright red tongue and mouth and lets out a loud cry, hoping to scare the predator off.

Scientists know little about what this gecko eats in the wild. In human care it eats crickets, moths and other small invertebrates. Scientists also know very little about how this species communicates.

Eggs in the Leaf Litter

Females lay clutches of two round eggs in the leaf litter of the forest floor at the start of the rainy season, which begins around November in Madagascar. At a captive-breeding colony in Kyiv, 119 measured gaps between one clutch and the next averaged 34 days, and eggs took an average of 94 days to hatch. In that colony, all 43 recorded matings took place within two hours of the room lights being switched off. The species is rated Least Concern by the IUCN, though it was once threatened by the international pet trade. Export is now illegal, and its future hinges on the continued protection of its rainforest habitat in eastern Madagascar.