The Eggs of Geckos — Tetrapod Zoology

I should point out that endolymphatic glands are not unique to gekkotans – they’re actually widespead within squamates – and enlarged neck sacs are not unique either, as they’re also present in such iguanians as chameleons and agamids.

I’ll stop there, but more on geckos will be share here soon. Like I said, there’s a lot of content in the archives, ‘all’ I have to do is republish it here.

For previous Tet Zoo articles on squamates, see…

• The Tet Zoo Guide to Mastigures, August 2018

• The Remarkable Basilisks, May 2023

• Do Lizards Really Have ‘Mite Pockets’?, March 2024

• Meeting Lake Zacapu’s Garter Snake, March 2024

• Ray Hoser, Number 1 Taxonomic Vandal, May 2024

• The Mysterious Dibamids, May 2024

• Side-Stabbing Stiletto Snakes, Redux for 2024, May 2024

• The Rehabilitation of Günther’s Black Cameroonian Snake, May 2024

• Ikaheka and Other ‘Palatine Draggers’, Cryptozoic Elapid Snakes of Melanesia, June 2024

• Arboreal Alligator Lizards of Mesoamerica… and Beyond!, July 2024

• Grayiids: Africa Has Water Snakes Too, August 2024

• Leiosaurid Lizards: South America, Land of Iguanians, November 2024

• What’s With All These New Chameleon Names? Chameleons, Part 1, November 2024

• The Treerunners, ‘Strikingly Proportioned’ Arboreal Iguanians, March 2026

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Refs – –

Bauer, A. M. 2000. Lizards. In Cogger, H. G., Gould, E., Forshaw, J., McKay, G. & Zweifel, R. G. (consultant eds) Encyclopedia of Animals: Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians. Fog City Press (San Francisco), pp. 564-611.

Choi, S., Han, S., Kim, N.-H. & Lee, Y.-N. 2018. A comparative study of eggshells of Gekkota with morphological, chemical compositional and crystallographic approaches and its evolutionary implications. PLoS ONE 13, e0199496.

Gamble, T., Bauer, A. M., Greenbaum, E. & Jackman, T. R. 2007. Evidence for Gondwanan vicariance in an ancient clade of gecko lizards. Journal of Biogeography 35, 88-104.

Kratochvíl, L. & Frynta, D. 2005. Egg shape and size allometry in geckos (Squamata: Gekkota), lizards with contrasting eggshell structure: why lay spherical eggs? Journal of Zoological Systematics 44, 217-222.

Kluge, A. G. 1982. Cloacal bones and sacs as evidence of gekkonid lizard relationships. Herpetologica 38, 348-355.

Kluge, A. G . 1987. Cladistic relationships in the Gekkonoidea (Squamata, Sauria). University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Miscellaneous Publications 173, 1-54.

Pianka, E. R. & Vitt, L. J. 2003. Lizards: Windows the Evolution of Diversity. University of California Press (Berkeley).

Rittenhouse, D. R. & Russell, A. P. 1998. The larynx and trachea of the barking gecko, Ptenopus garrulus maculatus (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) and their relation to vocalization. South African Journal of Zoology 33, 23-30.