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Home/Species/ Indo-Pacific House Gecko

Hemidactylus garnotii

Dumeril and Bibron, 1836

Indo-Pacific House Gecko

G5Secure Found in 1 roadless area NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100534
Element CodeARACD03010
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassReptilia
OrderSquamata
FamilyGekkonidae
GenusHemidactylus
Other Common Names
Indo-pacific Gecko (EN)
Concept Reference
Collins, J. T. 1990. Standard common and current scientific names for North American amphibians and reptiles. 3rd ed. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpetological Circular No. 19. 41 pp.
Taxonomic Comments
See Ota and Hikida (1989) for discussion of morphological and karyological variation in H. garnotii-vietnamensis complex.
Conservation Status
Review Date2005-05-06
Change Date1996-10-23
Edition Date2005-05-06
Range Extent Comments
Southeast Asia, Phillipines, Indo-Australian Archipelago, Melanesia, northern Australia?, New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, Polynesia (including Hawaii; probably arrived with early Polynesian colonists). Introduced in New Zealand (established), many areas in Florida (Crawford and Somma 1993, Herpetol. Rev. 24:108-109; Meshaka et al. 1994, Herpetol. Rev. 25:80-81; Lindsay and Townsend, 2001, Herpetol. Rev. 32:193; Townsend et al., 2002, Herpetol. Rev. 33:75; Meshaka et al. 2004; Johnston and Johnston, 2004, Herpetol. Rev. 35:187; Townsend and Lindsay, 2004, Herpetol. Rev. 35:287; Krysko et al. 2005), and the Bahamas (Abaco, Man O'War Cay, New Providence; Buckner and Franz 1994, Herpetol. Rev. 25:164; Meshaka 1995, Herpetol. Rev. 26:108). In Hawaii, formerly common in cities but now has disappeared apparently due to competition with Hemidactylus frenatus, a recent immigrant (McKeown 1978, Petren et al. 1993).
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

On walls and ceilings, on fences, on tree trunks and in tree crevices, under loose bark, in trash piles, under fallen palm fronds, under rocks at base of trees. In dry or wet areas; prefers forested areas. Usually concealed by day.

Eggs are laid under rock slab, beneath loose bark on tree trunk, in crevice in tree trunk, under debris, in cavity in rotting wood, or in similar site (Oliver and Shaw 1953, Cagle 1946).

Ecology

May aggregate where food abundant but not as gregarious as mourning gecko. Not territorial, does not form dominance hierarchy (Frankenberg 1984). Individual may remain in same area for several months (La Rivers 1948).

Reproduction

Triploid, parthenogenetic, all-female species (Kluge and Eckhardt 1969). Clutch size usually is 2. Eggs hatch in 1-2 months. Sexually mature in 2-3 months in Hawaii (McKeown 1978), perhaps 30-40 days in Marianas (Cagle 1946). Several may lay eggs in one place.
Terrestrial Habitats
Forest - HardwoodWoodland - HardwoodSuburban/orchardUrban/edificarian
Other Nations (1)
United StatesNNA
ProvinceRankNative
AlabamaSNANo
FloridaSNANo
HawaiiSNANo
Roadless Areas (1)
Florida (1)
AreaForestAcres
Alexander Springs CreekOcala National Forest2,954
References (16)
  1. Ashton, R. E., Jr., and P. S. Ashton. 1985. Handbook of reptiles and amphibians of Florida. Part two. Lizards, turtles & crocodilians. Windward Pub., Inc., Miami. 191 pp.
  2. Behler, J. L., and F. W. King. 1979. The Audubon Society field guide to North American reptiles and amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 719 pp.
  3. Cagle, F. R. 1946. A lizard population on Tinian. Copeia 1946(1):4-9.
  4. Collins, J. T. 1990. Standard common and current scientific names for North American amphibians and reptiles. 3rd ed. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpetological Circular No. 19. 41 pp.
  5. Conant, R., and J. T. Collins. 1998. A field guide to reptiles and amphibians: eastern and central North America. Third edition, expanded. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Massachusetts. 616 pp.
  6. Crother, B. I. (editor). 2012. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. 7th edition. SSAR Herpetological Circular 39:1-92.
  7. Frankenberg, E. 1984. Interactions between two species of colonizing house geckos, HEMIDACTYLUS TURCICUS and HEMIDACTYLUS GARNOTII. J. Herpetol. 18:1-7.
  8. Hunsaker, D., II, and P. Breese. 1967. Herpetofauna of theHawaiian Islands. Pacific Sci. 21:423-428.
  9. Jones, R. E. 1979. Hawaiian lizards--their past, present and future. Bull. Maryland Herpetol. Soc. 15(2):37-45.
  10. Kluge, A. G., and M. J. Eckhardt. 1969. HEMIDACTYLUS GARNOTII Dumeril and Bibron, a triploid all-female species of gekkonid lizard. Copeia 1969:651-664.
  11. Krysko, K. L., K. M. Enge, J. H. Townsend, E. M. Langan, S. A. Johnson, and T. S. Campbell. 2005. New county records of amphibians and reptiles from Florida. Herpetological Review 36:85-87.
  12. La Rivers, I. 1948. Some Hawaiian ecological notes. The Wasmann Collector 7(3):85-110.
  13. McKeown, S. 1978. Hawaiian reptiles and amphibians. Oriental Pub. Co., Honolulu. 80 pp.
  14. Oliver, J. A., and C. E. Shaw. 1953. The amphibians and reptiles of the Hawaiian Islands. Zoologica 38:65-95.
  15. Ota, H., and T. Hikida. 1989. A new triploid HEMIDACTYLUS (Gekkonidae: Sauria) from Taiwan, with comments on morphological and karyological variation in the H. GARNOTII-VIETNAMENSIS complex. J. Herpetol. 23:50-60.
  16. Petren, K., D. T. Bolger, and T. J. Case. 1993. Mechanisms in the competitive success of an invading sexual gecko over an asexual native. Science 259:354-358.