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Mediterranean Gecko - Hemidactylus turcicus

First year: 1910

Extirpated year:

Established status: Populations are confirmed breeding and apparently self-sustaining for 10 or more consecutive years.

Estimated Florida range: 52 counties At least 10 years, 5 counties Less than 10 years

Statewide trend: Declining

Threats to natives: None known.

Species Account: The native range of this species primarily encompasses coastal regions from western India and Somali around both sides of the Mediterranean Basin to Spain, Morocco, and the Canary Islands (Conant and Collins 1991), but it has been widely introduced. It may reach a total length of 12.7 cm (5 in) but is usually smaller. It has prominent tubercles on the head, body, legs, and tail. During the day, these geckos are brownish to gray colored with darker, irregular dorsal markings, but they lighten up to a light gray, pinkish ivory, or pasty white color at night and may lack markings. They are most often seen on the walls or ceilings of buildings at night, often feeding on insects around lights. The males can make weak, squeaking noises and are territorial (Bartlett and Bartlett 1999). The Mediterranean gecko was once locally common in the Lower Florida Keys (Duellman and Schwartz 1958) but has been almost completely replaced by the tropical house gecko (Meshaka et al. 1994). In southern mainland Florida, the Mediterranean gecko has been mostly replaced by the tropical house gecko and Indo-Pacific gecko (Butterfield et al. 1993, Meshaka 1994, Meshaka et al. 1994a). The decline in distribution and abundance of the Mediterranean gecko in southern Florida may be due to competition with other recently established and rapidly dispersing geckos that are more fecund because of continuous reproduction, unlike the seasonal reproductive cycle of the Mediterranean gecko (Meshaka 1994a, Meshaka et al. 1994a, Meshaka 1995). The scattered and haphazard pattern of colonization is often associated with man-assisted transport along trucking routes (Davis 1974, Godley et al. 1981, Meshaka 1995).

Habitats: Central or core urban area, Low density suburban development, areas peripheral to core urban areas, and small towns

click here for description of the regions

Region	First Year	Extirpated Year	Breeding status	Notes
NORTH CENTRAL	1958?		At least 10 years	(King 1958)
NORTHEAST	1977?		At least 10 years	(Meylan 1977)
SOUTHWEST	1970?		At least 10 years	(Brown and Hickman 1970)
SOUTH	1915		At least 10 years	(Fowler 1915)

County	First Year	Extirpated Year	Breeding status	Notes
ALACHUA	1956		At least 10 years	Gainesville (King 1958)
BAY	1993		Less than 10 years	Panama City (Nelson and Carey 1993)
BRADFORD	2001		Less than 10 years	Starke (Townsend and Krysko 2003)
BREVARD	1998		Less than 10 years	Titusville (Criscione et al. 1998)
CITRUS	1999		Less than 10 years	Inverness (Townsend et al. 2002)
CLAY	2001		Less than 10 years	Keystone Heights (Townsend and Krysko 2003)
COLUMBIA	2001		Less than 10 years	Ellisville (Townsend and Reppas 2001)
DADE	1966		At least 10 years	Miami area (King and Krakauer 1966)
DUVAL	1970		At least 10 years	Jacksonville (Meylan 1977)
ESCAMBIA	1993		Less than 10 years	Pensacola (Nelson and Carey 1993); Santa Rosa Island (Jensen 1995)
FRANKLIN	1996		Less than 10 years	Apalachicola (Means 1996b)
GLADES	1993		Less than 10 years	Moore Haven (Meshaka 1995)
HENDRY	?		Less than 10 years	Clewiston (Meshaka 1995)
HERNANDO	1995		Less than 10 years	Weeki Wachee Gardens (Townsend and Krysko 2003)
HIGHLANDS	1993		Less than 10 years	Lake Placid (Meshaka 1995)
HILLSBOROUGH	1970		At least 10 years	Tampa (Brown and Hickman 1970)
INDIAN RIVER	1977		At least 10 years	Winter Beach (Myers 1978b)
LEON	4988		At least 10 years	Tallahassee (Means 1990)
LEVY	1993		At least 10 years	Cedar Key (Means 1999, Townsend and Krysko 2003)
MARION	2001		Less than 10 years	Ocala (Townsend and Krysko 2003)
MONROE	1915		At least 10 years	Key West (Fowler 1915); Miami (Barbour 1936)
OKALOOSA	1994		Less than 10 years	Fort Walton Beach (Jensen 1995)
OKEECHOBEE	?		Less than 10 years	Okeechobee (Meshaka 1995)
ORANGE	1983		At least 10 years	Orlando (Townsend and Krysko 2003)
OSCEOLA	1993		Less than 10 years	St. Cloud (Meshaka 1995)
PINELLAS	1971		At least 10 years	St. Petersburg (McCoy 1971)
PUTNAM	1997		Less than 10 years	Melrose (Townsend and Krysko 2003)
SAINT JOHNS	1993		Less than 10 years	Madeira Heights (Wise 1993)
SAINT LUCIE	1977		At least 10 years	Fort Pierce (Myers 1978a)
SARASOTA	1988		Not reported breeding
SEMINOLE	1981		At least 10 years	Sanford (Townsend and Krysko 2003)
WAKULLA	2002		Less than 10 years	Panacea (Johnson et al. 2002)

References

Barbour, T. 1936. Two introduced lizards in Miami, Florida. Copeia 1936:113.

Bartlett, R. D., and P. P. Bartlett. 1999. A field guide to Florida reptiles and amphibians. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas. 278pp.

Brown, L. N., and G. C. Hickman. 1970. Occurrence of the Mediterranean gecko in the Tampa, Florida, area. Florida Naturalist 43:68.

Butterfield, B. P., B. Hauge, and W. E. Meshaka, Jr. 1993. The occurrence of Hemidactylus mabouia on the United States mainland. Herpetological Review 24:111-112.

Conant, R., and J. T. Collins. 1991. A field guide to amphibians and reptiles of eastern and central North America. Third edition. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 450pp.

Criscione, C. D., N. J. Anderson, T. Campbell, and B. Quinn. 1998. Hemidactylus mabouia (tropical gecko). Herpetological Review 29:248.

Davis, W. K. 1974. The Mediterranean gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, in Texas. Journal of Herpetology 8:77-80.

Fowler, H. W. 1915. Cold-blooded vertebrates from Florida, the West Indies, Costa Rica, and eastern Brazil. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 67:244-269.

Godley, J. S., F. E. Lohrer, J. N. Layne, and J. Rossi. 1981. Distributional status of an introduced lizard in Florida: Anolis sagrei. Herpetological Review 12:84-86.

Jensen, J. B. 1995. Hemidactylus turcicus (Mediterranean gecko). Herpetological Review 26:45.

Johnson, S. A., W. J. Barichivich, and J. S. Staiger. 2002. Geographic distribution: Hemidactylus turcicus (Mediterranean gecko). Herpetological Review 33:322.

King, F. W. 1958. Observations on the ecology of a new population of the Mediterranean gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, in Florida. Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences 21:317-318.

King, F. W., and T. Krakauer. 1966. The exotic herpetofauna of southeast Florida. Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences 29:144-154.

McCoy, C. J. 1971. Hemidactylus turcicus. Herpetological Review 3:89.

Means, D. B. 1990. Hemidactylus turcicus (Mediterranean gecko). Herpetological Review 21:96.

Means, D. B. 1996b. Hemidactylus turcicus (Mediterranean gecko). Herpetological Review 27:152.

Means, R. C. 1999. Hemidactylus turcicus (Mediterranean gecko). Herpetological Review 30:52.

Meshaka, W. E., Jr. 1994. Reproductive cycle of the Indo-Pacific gecko, Hemidactylus garnotii, in South Florida. Florida Scientist 57:6-9.

Meshaka, W. E., Jr. 1995. Reproductive cycle and colonization ability of the Mediterranean gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) in south-central Florida. Florida Scientist 58:10-15.

Meshaka, W. E., Jr., B. P. Butterfield, and B. Hauge. 1994. Hemidactylus frenatus established on the lower Florida Keys. Herpetological Review 25:127-128.

Meshaka, W. E., Jr., B. P. Butterfield, and B. Hauge. 1994. Hemidactylus mabouia as an established member of the Florida herpetofauna. Herpetological Review 25:80-81.

Meylan, P. A. 1977. Hemidactylus turcicus (Mediterranean gecko). Herpetological Review 8:39.

Myers, S. 1978a. Hemidactylus turcicus (Mediterranean gecko). Herpetological Review 9:62.

Myers, S. 1978b. Hemidactylus turcicus (Mediterranean gecko). Herpetological Review 9:107.

Nelson, D. H., and S. D. Carey. 1993. Range extension of the Mediterranean gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) along the northeastern Gulf Coast of the United States. Northeast Gulf Science 13:53-58.

Stejneger, L. 1922. Two geckos new to the fauna of the United States. Copeia 1922:56.

Townsend, J. H., and K. L. Krysko. 2003. The distribution of Hemidactylus (Sauria: Gekkonidae) in northern peninsular Florida. Florida Scientist 66:204-208.

Townsend, J. H., and A. T. Reppas. 2001. Geographic distribution: Hemidactylus turcicus (Mediterranean gecko). Herpetological Review 32:193.

Wise, M. 1993. Hemidactylus turcicus (Mediterranean gecko). Herpetological Review 24:109.

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