Counting heads - U. aff henkeli

miguel camacho!

New member
So my adults were pretty explosively successful last year. I got quite a few eggs, with the last of them from that season hatching over last weekend. I decided, after an extremely busy semester, to finally get around to taking some photos. I managed to photograph most of the hatchlings...I think one has managed to slip by this time by wedging itself in a vine in the back of the cage. Anyway, here's the majority of them.

1: (presumably female)
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2: (presumably female)
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3: (very unsure, lines make me think male, but fine-grained pattern makes me think female)
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4: (male)
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5: (presumably female)
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6: (presumably female)
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7: (unfortunately dropped its tail a couple of weeks ago, presumably male)
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8: (unfortunately dropped its tail about 2 or 3 months ago, presumably female)
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9: (presumably female)
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10: (presumably male)
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11: (presumably male)
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12: (presumably male)
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Last, but not least, the oldest hatchling from November with the youngest hatchling from a little less than a week ago. They appear to be slow growers.
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Anyway, I just thought I'd mention, as I have here and there, that by looking at the eye alone, these geckos seem more closely aligned with U. sikorae than U. henkeli. The iris just does not seem to be similar to U. henkeli at all, but it seems almost exactly like the iris of U. sikorae. Does anyone agree? Disagree? I have been wondering for some time now why this undescribed species had taken on the name of U. aff henkeli instead of U. aff sikorae. The outward appearance does look generally similar to U. henkeli at times, but then I see some individuals that appear half U. henkeli and half U. sikorae. The adults are larger than U. sikorae, but smaller than U. henkeli. I also wonder if anyone else keeping this species has noticed any difference in size between adult males and adult females. One of my females is very large, but still not U. henkeli size. I think it will be interesting to see how it plays out over time and if/when they are officially described, which currently described species they will be most closely aligned.
 
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pakinjak

Member
This is the most aff. henks I've seen in one spot so I'm certainly no expert, but I've never thought any of them looked like Henkeli but certainly could see some of them being mistaken for sikorae, especially before sameiti got broken out of that species. I think they look more like some sameiti I've seen than even sikorae.

I finally took a picture of my female sameiti today, and will share it here as an example of what I mean. Hopefully it will be helpful and not cloudy your thread, Mike.

This sameiti has a very mottled look to her her pattern like many of the aff. henks I've seen pictures of.
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miguel camacho!

New member
Well, I'm not 100% sure of the range of sameiti, but according to Schonecker, they aren't from northern Madagascar. These were originally described to me as "an undescribed species from northern Madagascar." They share the characteristics described by others keeping them as well as what I can see in the aforementioned book. If they come from where I think they might have, they would range more closely with U. sikorae than U. henkeli. However, I am unsure how far west they may range, much less the exact locality from which mine originated. The adults all came in the same shipment labelled together, so I'd imagine they're from the same locale.
 

pakinjak

Member
I wasn't thinking of their range at all, just their looks. Mine's CB anyway, so it's range was central florida :) But since you mention it, the Schonecker Terralog Mada. book p. 141 shows sameiti being native to the Diego Suarez area at the extreme northern tip of the island. It doesn't show the range of aff. Henkeli on any of the maps, but in case you don't have the book the pictures they show say they were taken at Tsingy de l'Ankarana and Montagne des Francais. None of the sameiti pics give locations except for one being taken in Tamatave, but that location is listed as a question mark for their natural range. The given range for sameiti and the picture locations for aff. henkeli put them very close to each other in natural range, though I'm certainly not implying that aff. henkeli are actually sameiti, just that they remind me more of them than any other Uroplatus species.

EDIT: And then there's the aff. Sikorae, which come from the northern tip of Mada. as well. That's a lot of new/undescribed species in the same area.
 
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rhacoboy

New member
All are stunning, but I love #4.
Congrats on your success.

And yes, I agree. They seem much more closely related to Sikorae than Henkeli. Rough skin, eye's, etc.

-Armen
 

miguel camacho!

New member
Thanks, guys. #4, #6, #8, and #10 are my four favorites for now, though I believe 6 and 8 will both turn out to look mostly like the two oldest (#1 and #2). As far as I can tell, #4 and #10 are males, #6 and #8 are females.
 

SamNabz

New member
Stunning pics and geckos mate. Especially love #2 - the camouflage is just incredible in that image.

Thanks for sharing.
 

luevelvet

New member
Hey Mike,

Great looking animals! Regarding location etc, sikorae and sameiti share the same distribution but are separated by elevation alone. U.aff.henkeli also share similar ranges as henkeli and the fact they can produce viable offspring together leads me to believe they are more closely related to henkeli than anything else, but all of this is conjecture until someone performs some DNA testing to see the real story. ;)

With that said, we consider them aff.henkeli because they are typically imported as henkeli. Hell, I had many people tell me they were "true" henkeli for months before speaking with Olaf and working out the distinguishing traits!

Cheers!

Luis
 

Graham_s

Super Moderator
Congratulations on your success with this species, Mike! They are all beautiful animals.
I hope you continue to do well with them!
 

big tom

New member
Your photos do a great job of showing the variation in color and patterning that is possible with the aff henkeli. Very nice!
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miguel camacho!

New member
The geckos thank everyone for the compliments.

Got around to photographing the one that was hiding (#13). Given the vines in the enclosure, it's not really surprising that this one could get overlooked the first time around.

My guess on this one at this point is female.
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A nice camo job by this one (#9 from my original post)
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Yin-yangin' it. (#11 and #9 together)
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#6 from original post
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The patchy male (#4 from original post)
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And a shot of the young rusty one (#10 from original post)
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