State Status: Threatened, 1980 Federal Status: None
The Status of Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Animals and Plants of California, Barefoot Banded Gecko. California Department of Fish and Game, 2000.
California's Wildlife, Amphibians and Reptiles, Barefoot Gecko. California Wildlife Habitat Relationships System, California Department of Fish and Game, 1984.
BAREFOOT BANDED GECKO
The barefoot banded gecko is a medium-sized lizard, 2 to 3 inches long, with soft skin and fine, granular scales. Its large eyes have vertical pupils, and the grey-brown body has various black and white spots and bands that give it a striking appearance. This species is known only from five localities in eastern San Diego County and western Imperial County. Limited distribution records indicate that the gecko inhabits rocky, boulder-strewn desert foothills, where it spends most of its life deep in rock crevices and subterranean chambers.
The rarity of this species makes it desirable for illegal collection by reptile hobbyists and commercial collectors. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park affords protection for some gecko habitat, and the DFG is involved with a federal habitat management plan for BLM land on which the gecko occurs.
The status in 1999 of the barefoot banded gecko: Unknown.