They are seen as dark gray or brown with light markings in daylight and a pale, translucent colour at night.

The species is parthenogenic – all individuals are female and lay eggs that hatch without requiring male fertilisation.

A slight but distinct fold of the skin along the flanks, and another bordering the hind limb posteriorly.

Tail depressed, flat beneath, with sharp denticulated lateral edge; the scales on the upper surface very small, equal; those on the lower surface larger, imbricate, with a median series of large, transversely dilated plates.

NE Bangladesh, NE India (Darjeeling, Assam, Sikkim), Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Myanmar (= Burma), Malaysia, southern China (Hong Kong, Guangdong, Hainan, southern Yunnan), Taiwan, Philippine Islands, New Zealand (introduced), Indonesia (Sumatra, Nias, Borneo, Java), New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, Polynesia, Fiji, Western Samoa.