Identifying Characteristics:
- Body Length: 65 mm
- Tail Length: 70 mm
- Head: Large, with a blunt snout that is longer than the distance between the eye and the ear.
- Ear Opening: Small, nearly circular, with a diameter no more than half the eye diameter.
- Supralabials: 11-13 scales on each side.
- Infralabials: 9-12 scales on each side.
- Mental Scale: Triangular, more than twice the length of the adjacent labial scales.
- Postmentals: Two pairs; the first pair touching each other; the second pair (external) smaller, often separated from the infralabials by small scales.
- Gular Region Scales: Flat, granular.
- Rostral Scale: As wide as it is high.
- Nares (Nostrils): Located in the middle of the rostral scale, the first supralabial, and the small scales behind.
- Head Scales (Posterior): Small, granular scales, with larger granules on the snout region.
- Dorsal Scales: Small, granular, and uniform, except for a line of broad, rounded tubercles along the sides.
- Ventral Scales: Round, smooth, and overlapping.
- Digits: Free or with a small amount of webbing. Moderately dilated, with thin, oblique lamellae. Digit I is less than half the length of digit II.
- Subdigital Lamellae (Digit I): 5-6.
- Subdigital Lamellae (Digit IV, Forelimb): 11-13.
- Thigh: A skin fold is present along the edge of the thigh.
- Hindlimb: Reaches or nearly reaches the armpit.
- Tail: Strongly flattened, sharp, with serrations on both sides. The upper surface is covered with small, uniform scales; the underside is flat with large, overlapping scales and a transverse row of enlarged scales in the middle of the tail.
- Coloration: Brownish-gray with indistinct spots or markings, often with small white dots. Dark stripes along the sides of the head. Ventral surface is white.
Biology and Ecology:
- Nocturnal: Forages at night.
- Habitat: Found around large tree roots or large rocks in evergreen forests and sometimes in residential areas.
- Diet: Feeds on larvae that live in its habitat.
Distribution:
- Vietnam: Thừa Thiên-Huế, Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu, Bình Phước, Đắk Lắk, Đồng Nai, Tây Ninh, Ho Chi Minh City, Kiên Giang, Cà Mau.
- Global: This species has a wide distribution, from India and China to Southeast Asia and across the islands of the Pacific.