e. turcmenicus

[geckoboa]

Here is a couple of our favorite turcs in our collection. I really love these guys.

A little different lighting and without a flash...

 

[Big Red One]

They look very cool John. Congrats! :main_thumbsup:

 

[Kristi23]

Very nice geckos! Where did you get them?

 

[Mr.Lizard]

where e. turcmenicus born?

 

[KelliH]

Very cool.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Very cool! Other than the head shape, they look a lot like E. fascios. Lots of pastel yellow and lavender.

 

[Dimidiata]

At first glance i thought theey were leos but then i saw some of the diffrences. Arnt these guys a more rare variaty in the trade? Their so cool.

 

[geckoboa]

Thanks everyone! These are not for everyone but I love them! I enjoy the natural state of these beautiful creatures almost as much as I love the colorful morphs that people have created. You can label me a purist if you like

Very nice geckos! Where did you get them?

Sasobek. Don't think anybody else has them in the US but I could be wrong.

where e. turcmenicus born?

Their range is from the Kopet-Dagh mountains in Turkmenistan and the Khorasan mountains in northern Iran.

Very cool! Other than the head shape, they look a lot like E. fascios. Lots of pastel yellow and lavender.

They really do have a cool look to them that is similar to some darker facios. One of the most obvious when you see them in person is their tubercles have a large "spiny" look to them and extend through to their tail and extremities in a much more dramatic fashion. As far as the first sublabial not being in contact with the scales behind the large mental I personally don't feel is a completely accurate way to describe this species. I have some that touch and others that do not. I even have leos that this can vary quite a bit and even not touch. This leads me to believe not every example within a range in the wild will be exactly the same. From pictures I have seen they do resemble the basic scale pattern quite a bit. They also seem to have a lot more dark pigment through their heads and bands across their backs even as adults. Their are other subtle differences to describe the species.

At first glance i thought they were leos but then i saw some of the diffrences. Arnt these guys a more rare variaty in the trade? Their so cool.

Very rare especially in the US. They are very similar to leos and I almost feel that they should be a sub rather than a separate species but I don't make the rules They are probably a separate species more because of their natural separation from the e. macularius in the wild than their morphological differences. Similar to the e. angramainyu.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

They are very similar to leos and I almost feel that they should be a sub rather than a separate species but I don't make the rules They are probably a separate species more because of their natural separation from the e. macularius in the wild than their morphological differences. Similar to the e. angramainyu.

It will be wonderful "if" someday we can get back into the Middle East to do more field studies and finally determine whether or not these are actually separate species, sub-species, or localities. Range maps need to be established, sub-labial scale counts, digit structure analysis, etc. Most data that is available is from Russian Universities from back when they occupied the regions. We haven't seen anything from the USA since back in the '60's-70's when Steven C. Anderson spent so much time there. If someone was inclined it wouldn't be difficult, although expensive, to have genetic testing performed on these sub-species we do have.

We also must remember that our leopard geckos are really 'mutt's... a combination of several different species/sub-species over years of cross breeding. When I first got my E. fasciolatus and E. afghanicus, I was really excited to have some F1's and F2's from wild-caught parentage. But then I realized that there are so few of them available that their gene pools are probably very shallow from inbreeding. These pure sub-species are much more common in Europe, where most of ours were imported from, because those countries don't have the political sanctions against the Middle Eastern countries that we do here in the USA.

Still, it's exciting to see that more of these amazing geckos are trickling in for us to enjoy!

 

[Desdemona]

Very nice! It would be pretty neat to have a possible "original" of the Mutt... do we know exactly which species the modern pet Leos come from?

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

do we know exactly which species the modern pet Leos come from?

Most likely a combination of all of them!

 

[geckoboa]

Very nice! It would be pretty neat to have a possible "original" of the Mutt... do we know exactly which species the modern pet Leos come from?

Most likely a combination of all of them!

Yeah unless you personally walked into the desert and picked one up you can never know for sure what you have. You can only try to work with the most honest and trustworthy people and educate yourself as much as possible.
Most leos are probably ancestors from geckos collected in Pakistan(e. macularis) but they could easily have other species mixed in wiith them.

 

[Desdemona]

Have people been able to interbreed some of these somewhat Leo looking species with the pet variety?

Sent from my DROID PRO using Tapatalk

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Have people been able to interbreed some of these somewhat Leo looking species with the pet variety?

Yes! There are some awesome E. afghanicus crosses with Halloween Masks and Bold Stripes done by Eric at Oregon Gecko and Britt from PacHerp. I have produced several gorgeous, high lavender Mack Snows by crossing an E. fasciolatus with Super Snows (see on my website).