| Peringuey's Leaf-toed Gecko | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Gekkonidae |
| Genus: | Cryptactites Bauer et al., 1997 |
| Species: | C. peringueyi |
| Binomial name | |
| Cryptactites peringueyi (Boulenger, 1910) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Phyllodactylus peringueyi Boulenger, 1910 |
|
Peringuey's leaf-toed gecko, Cryptactites peringueyi, is a species of gecko. It is particularly tiny, not growing more than about 5 centimetres (2.0 in), making it the smallest lizard in the region, along with the Striped Dwarf Leaf-toed Gecko of the Western Cape. It has a red-brown body sometimes with thin, pale dark stripes. This leaf-toed gecko is nocturnal and lives in matted marsh vegetation where it lays two minute eggs in summer.
It is endemic to South Africa, being restricted to a few saltmarshes in the Eastern Cape. It was believed to be extinct for a long time, but a tiny population was rediscovered in 1992 by the estuary of the Kromme river.