Pristurus carteri

The generic name, Pristurus, means "saw-tailed" in Latin.^{[citation needed]}

The specific name, carteri, is in honor of Dr. Henry Carter who collected the holotype.^[4]

There are two subspecies of Pristurus carteri. The first is the nominotypical subspecies, Pristurus carteri carteri (Gray, 1863), and the other is Pristurus carteri tuberculatus Parker, 1931,^[3] P. c. carteri being the more common.^{[citation needed]}

The species P. carteri has many common names such as Carter's rock gecko, ornate rock gecko, and scorpion-tailed gecko.^{[citation needed]}

P. carteri is native to Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen,^[3] where it often is found basking on rocks or in urban areas.^{[citation needed]}

P. carteri are often seen swaying their curly tails back and forth to each other in a way to sort of communicate to each other. The males develop little fleshy spikes on their tails upon reaching sexual maturity. When they feel threatened they curl their tails in a scorpion-like fashion and even mimic the movements a scorpion will use as a threat display; this and the tail waving are the source of the common name scorpion-tailed geckos.^{[citation needed]}

Members of the genus Pristurus are diurnal. This is unusual in geckos except in the genera Phelsuma, Lygodactylus, Naultinus, Quedenfeldtia, Rhoptropus, all Sphaerodactylids, and, of course, Pristurus.^[5]

P. carteri may attain an average snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in), and a total length (including tail) of 8–9 cm (3.1–3.5 in).^{[citation needed]}

P. carteri reaches sexual maturity in roughly 10 months. Adult females lay 1–2 hard shelled eggs that are incubated at 28 °C (82.4 °F) for 70–90 days. Each neonate hatches out at a total length of about 3.5–4 cm (1.4–1.6 in).^{[citation needed]}