Date: February 7, 2017
Source: PeerJ
Many lizards can drop their tails
when grabbed, but one group of geckos has gone to particularly extreme lengths
to escape predation. Fish-scale geckos in the genus Geckolepis have large
scales that tear away with ease, leaving them free to escape whilst the
predator is left with a mouth full of scales. Scientists have now described a
new species (Geckolepis megalepis) that is the master of this art, possessing
the largest scales of any gecko.
The skin of fish-scale geckos is
specially adapted to tearing. The large scales are attached only by a
relatively narrow region that tears with ease, and beneath them they have a
pre-formed splitting zone within the skin itself. Together, these features make
them especially good at escaping from predators. Although several other geckos
are able to lose their skin like this if they are grasped really firmly,
Geckolepis are apparently able to do it actively, and at the slightest touch.
And while others might take a long time to regenerate their scales, fish-scale
geckos can grow them back, scar-free, in a matter of weeks.
This remarkable (if somewhat
gruesome) ability has made these geckos a serious challenge to the scientists
who want to study them. Early researchers described how it was necessary to
catch them with bundles of cotton wool, to avoid them losing almost all of
their skin. Today, little has changed, and researchers try to catch them
without touching them if possible, by luring them into plastic bags. But once
they are caught, the challenges are not over; identifying and describing them
is even harder.
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