Meeting Abstract

P2.12  Sunday, Jan. 5 15:30  Color-change in the leaf-tail gecko, Uroplatus henkeli, in response to checkerboard backgrounds with different square sizes MORRISON, R.*; BROUSSARD, J.; McDaniel College, Westminster, MD rmorriso@mcdaniel.edu

Leaf-tail geckos from Madagascar are well known for their crypticity. Uroplatus henkeli is a large species of leaf-tail gecko that is a phenomenal bark mimic. Interestingly males and females differ in term of their overall pattern, females are banded and males are spotted. Both genders, however, are capable of rapid color change. Background matching was measured in a captive bred male and female Uroplatus henkeli by placing individuals on black and white checkerboard patterns with squares of different sizes. Trials were conducted in ten gallon aquaria in a dark room and lizards were photographed following acclimation for two hours. The hue/saturation/value of dark skin (spots or bands) and of light skin regions were measured and analyzed. In both genders it was found that there was a statistically significant difference between the checkerboard square size and the value of both dark skin and light skin. Hue did not change with the size of checkerboard squares, but there were statistically significant differences between the two genders and within the male there is significant difference in hue between dark skin and light skin. As the overall contrast of the background pattern changes, both males and females are able to increase or decrease the difference in the value between dark skin and light skin. On small squares the lightness values of dark and light skin are very different, but they converge on large squares. Square size does not seem to be affecting hue in the same way, but there are gender specific differences in hue.