A small, but very beautiful gecko lives well camouflaged in the rainforests of the central east and southeastern highlands of Madagascar: The satanic leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus). This small guy got his name from biologist George Boulenger in 1888. The Belgian described the species for the first time and chose the name due to the gecko’s bizarre look. The satanic leaf-tailed gecko occurs only in Madagascar, which means it is endemic to the island. The tail of this species is – eponymous for the whole genus – leaf-shaped and often decorated with small cutouts imitiating a dead leaf. Body colour is very various and comes in astonishing pattern, sometimes with partially bright orange belly and marbled back. Above each eye, the satanic leaf-tailed gecko has a small, noticeable projection, which contributes to blending into trunks and branches perfectly, like many other body adjuncts.
The distribution are of this species reaches Ankeniheny-Zahamena in the eastern part of the island as well as Andringitra massif in the south, Ivohibe being one of the most southern places to find the gecko. In Ranomafana and Andasibe-Mantadia national parks, you can find the satanic leaf-tailed gecko quite well in spring. But you will certainly need an expert eye or a knowledgeable guide, because the gecko camouflages during daytime motionless between decaying leaves in the trees. With only 9 cm total length, it is almost invisible then. It is not until the night that this spooky gecko becomes active – and skilfully hunts moths, crickets and other insects, mostly not more than two or three metres above the ground.
Even predators have a hard time to find it, and if, the small gecko will plant itself threateningly right in front of the predator, opening its mouth widely to show the bright pink colour inside. Anyway, if attacked the satanic leaf-tailed gecko can throw away its tail and run away, while the thrown tail fidgets around to attract the predator’s interest. The body part grows back in some weeks completely, which can be easily distinguised from the original tail by its slightly different colour. Besides these characteristics, the satanic leaf-tailed gecko has some more special attributes: The feet are equipped with tiny lamellae – like in all geckos. This makes the gecko possible to adhere tightly to the ground, it could even walk upside-down on the plain ceiling. The big eyes have eyelids, but those aren’t movable. Thus it cannot blink, so the satanic leaf-tailed gecko uses its long tongue to clean its eyes.
After a successful mating, the female of the satanic leaf-tailed gecko lays two spherical, small, white eggs at the beginning of the rainy season. She mostly just hides them in the leaf litter on the ground. On average, a female lays about six clutches a year. After two to three and a half months, the tiny gecko children hatch and find a bountiful insect table. They are exact spitting images of their parents, just much smaller: A hatching satanic leaf-tailed gecko measures only 3 cm inlcuding its tail. From the very first day, they are on their own and hunt prey in the wet rainforest.
At IUCN red list, the satanic leaf-tailed gecko is listed as least concern, which means not threatened. Unfortunately, the gecko lacks data for a meaningful listing since there have been made no population estimations during of this species yet. Like many other habitats in Madagascar, the living space of the satanic leaf-tailed gecko is massively threatened by slash-and-burn agriculture and cutting of timber. Additionally, this species cannot deal with degraded vegetation and depends on primary rainforests. If those have been disturbed, the satanic leaf-tailed gecko will not use it anymore. In 2007, the German biologists Glaw and Vences thought about the satanic leaf-tailed gecko being eventually two species, because especially animals from Fierenana are much bigger in size than individuals from other areas.