(Pictured: Eublepharis macularius. Not mine, though.)Good news, everyone! Within the next few weeks, I will be obtaining my very own squamate, an Eublepharis macularius. Or, in common terms, a leopard gecko.
The Squamata are an order of scaled reptiles, the most recent major group, having found their origins around the lower Jurassic. The order includes not only lizards but snakes, thereby comprising the vast majority of sauropsids (reptiles) alive today. Other orders, including Crocodilia (within the Archosauria; Archosauria also contains birds and dinosaurs), Sphenodontia (tuataras), and Testudines (turtles and tortoises) make up the remainder of reptiles alive today. Of course, Squamata also contained the now-extinct mosasaurs, making my future scaley compadre a not so distant cousin of the great Tylosaurus proriger.
Within suborder Scleroglossa, the infraorder Gekkota, and family Gekkonidae, the leopard gecko originates from the arid scrubs and deserts of southern Asia, throughout Pakistan and India. It is unique among geckos, as it has eyelids. It's a well-established pet in many countries, common as a reptilian pet throughout the United States.
Like other geckos, it posesses over 14,000 hair-like growths called setae (singular: seta) on its feet, which allow it to walk on vertical surfaces without liquid or surface tension. Each of the setae has a diameter of about 5 micrometers, and each is covered with anywhere from 100 to 1000 spatulae, which are 0.2 micrometers in width.
I'm really looking forward to having my very own squamate around the house. However, I can only hope the two local Felis silvestris catus aren't quite as anxious about its arrival.
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