Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Mada­gas­car day geckos are na­tive to the east­ern coast of Mada­gas­car. They have been in­tro­duced to south­ern Florida, in the United States. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; Hey­gen, 2004)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • introduced
• ethiopian
  • native

• Other Geographic Terms
• island endemic

Habi­tat

Mada­gas­car day geckos are ar­bo­real. They in­habit trees in trop­i­cal rain­forests, as well as trees in grass­land and agri­cul­tural areas. (D'Cruze, et al., 2007; "Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; D'Cruze, et al., 2007)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• forest
• rainforest
• scrub forest

• Other Habitat Features
• agricultural

• Range elevation

  40 to 320 m

  131.23 to 1049.87 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Mada­gas­car day geckos are the largest species of gecko. Adults can reach up to 25 cm in lengt. Their tails are usu­ally just as long as their bod­ies or longer. They have broad, flat­tened toe pads with ad­he­sive lamel­lae (thin flat scales). These toe pads give them the abil­ity to cling to smooth sur­faces. Their eyes are very large with a cir­cle of bright blue around them. They do not any have eye lids. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; Deme­ter, 1975)

Mada­gas­car day geckos are usu­ally bright green but the color can vary from light green to a bluish green be­tween their scales. They have a stripe that runs from the nos­tril to an area just be­hind the ear that is usu­ally a rust or red color. Mada­gas­car day geckos have brown dots that con­nect to form a line along their mid-backs. Fe­males have smaller heads than males and their color is less vi­brant, so it is easy to tell the sexes apart. Young Mada­gas­car day geckos re­sem­ble their par­ents ex­cept that they have pro­por­tion­ately larger heads and the un­der­side of their tail is or­ange. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; Deme­ter, 1975)

• Other Physical Features
• heterothermic

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger
• sexes colored or patterned differently
• male more colorful

• Range length

  10 to 25 cm

  3.94 to 9.84 in

De­vel­op­ment

Eggs of P. mada­gas­carien­sis hatch after an in­cu­ba­tion pe­riod of 47 to 82 days. The tem­per­a­ture at which the eggs are in­cu­bated de­ter­mines the sex of the off­spring. Eggs in­cu­bated at 81 to 85 de­grees (F) will yield males, while eggs in­cu­bated from 77 to 81 de­grees (F) will yield fe­males. Upon hatch­ing, the young are mor­pho­log­i­cally iden­ti­cal to the adult form, but dif­fer slightly in their col­oration. The diet of young Mada­gas­car day geckos mainly con­sists of small in­sects. The off­spring usu­ally reach a sex­u­ally ma­ture adult size in one to two years. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; Bartlett and Bartlett, 2001; Mat­ti­olo, et al., 2006)

• Development - Life Cycle
• temperature sex determination

Re­pro­duc­tion

Mada­gas­car day geckos en­gage in a courtship phase dur­ing mat­ing. Sex­u­ally ma­ture males have pores on the backs of their legs that be­come en­larged. They start to pro­duce a waxy sub­stance that looks like small droplets. Sex­u­ally ma­ture fe­males can have cal­cium de­posits lo­cated on both sides of the neck. Males ap­proach fe­males with a jerky head sway­ing mo­tion. This male be­hav­ior is usu­ally in uni­son with rapid tongue flick­ing in the fe­male. This seems to be some type of mat­ing rit­ual, but the de­tails of what is being as­sessed are un­known. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; Deme­ter, 1975)

Males grab fe­males be­tween the head and neck with their teeth. As soon as this hap­pens, the male's col­ors darken. Fe­males usu­ally emit a dis­tress call when they are grasped. Males then rest their throats on the fe­male's head and make a soft noise. This noise only lasts as long as the courtship. Males and fe­males both lick their vents after they are out of the courtship em­brace. It is un­known whether males or fe­males seek ad­di­tional mat­ings. (Deme­ter, 1975)

Mada­gas­car day geckos re­pro­duce sex­u­ally, with fe­males lay­ing eggs sev­eral times per year. A clutch usu­ally con­sists of 2 eggs and clutches are laid from Jan­u­ary to July, with Feb­ru­ary to March being peak months. A fe­male may pro­duce mul­ti­ple clutches in a sin­gle breed­ing sea­son. After an in­cu­ba­tion pe­riod of 47 to 82 days, the young hatch and are im­me­di­ately self suf­fi­cient and in­de­pen­dent. The young feed pri­mar­ily on small in­sects and be­come sex­u­ally ma­ture within one to two years. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; Deme­ter, 1975; Mat­ti­olo, et al., 2006)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• sexual
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Madagascar day geckos breed approximately every 2 to 3 months.

• Breeding season

  Breeding occurs from January to July, peaking from February to April.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 2

• Average number of offspring

  2

• Range gestation period

  47 to 82 days

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  1 to 2 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  1 to 2 years

Mada­gas­car day geckos are in­de­pen­dent upon hatch­ing. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; Deme­ter, 1975)

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

While the lifes­pan of P. mada­gas­carien­sis in the wild is un­known, it is es­ti­mated to be less than 6 years. The av­er­age lifes­pan in cap­tiv­ity is around 15 years. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; Bartlett and Bartlett, 2001)

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  15 years

Be­hav­ior

Mada­gas­car day geckos tend to be found cling­ing to ver­ti­cal sur­faces, such as tree trunks and branches, where they rest and sun­bathe. When geckos shed, they eat their own skin. They seem to be ter­ri­to­r­ial, as they are ag­gres­sive to­wards other mem­bers of the species. Younger geckos are most ag­gres­sive. They will often make di­rect at­tacks on oth­ers if they are found in the same place. Male geckos can change col­ors when they are stressed or if they are ill. Their col­or­ing dark­ens in these sit­u­a­tions. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; Deme­ter, 1975)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• scansorial
• diurnal
• sedentary
• solitary

Home Range

There is no in­for­ma­tion avail­able on home range of Mada­gas­car day geckos.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

As a di­ur­nal species, P. mada­gas­carien­sis re­lies heav­ily on sight to gather in­for­ma­tion about its en­vi­ron­ment. Slight changes in the in­ten­sity of the skin's col­oration are used to con­vey in­for­ma­tion dur­ing breed­ing and courtship, as well as to in­di­cate high lev­els of stress or ill­ness. Au­di­tory sig­nals are emit­ted dur­ing breed­ing and courtship, as well as when the an­i­mal is heav­ily stressed. Tac­tile com­mu­ni­ca­tion is used dur­ing re­pro­duc­tion, when males re­strain fe­males via bit­ing her on the neck. The se­cre­tions from the male's leg pores may be a form of chem­i­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, as the se­cre­tion is also ac­com­pa­nied by fe­male tongue flick­ing. Mada­gas­car day geckos have a dis­tinct call that re­sem­bles the sound of a frog. It is made by using their very large tongues to pro­duce a click­ing sound of the roofs of their mouths. (Deme­ter, 1975)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Mada­gas­car day geckos eat a wide va­ri­ety of arthro­pods. They also oc­ca­sion­ally eat sweet fruits or nec­tar. Their main source of water is from the con­den­sa­tion found on leaves. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; Deme­ter, 1975)

Mada­gas­car day geckos in cap­tiv­ity are usu­ally fed about twice a week. They have been ob­served tak­ing great care in de­cid­ing what food they will in­gest. They will often dis­card some pieces of food be­fore fi­nally de­cid­ing what they will eat. (Deme­ter, 1975)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore
  • eats non-insect arthropods

• Animal Foods
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods
• aquatic crustaceans

• Plant Foods
• fruit
• nectar

Pre­da­tion

While no stud­ies ex­am­in­ing spe­cific preda­tors have been per­formed, P. mada­gas­carien­sis is prob­a­bly preyed upon by a va­ri­ety of preda­tors, in­clud­ing var­i­ous birds, mam­mals, and other rep­tiles. This species, like many other species of lizards, is ca­pa­ble of drop­ping the last por­tion of the tail to dis­tract a preda­tor that is pur­su­ing them, thus al­low­ing an eas­ier es­cape. Mada­gas­car day geckos rely heav­ily on cam­ou­flage to avoid preda­tors; their green col­oration and habit of cling­ing to sur­faces al­lows them to blend in seam­lessly with their trop­i­cal, ar­bo­real en­vi­ron­ment. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; Bartlett and Bartlett, 2001)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

Ecosys­tem Roles

Mada­gas­car day geckos eat smaller an­i­mals, such as in­sects. They are preyed upon by larger an­i­mals such as birds. How­ever, there is lit­tle in­for­ma­tion on the ac­tual role of the geckos in the ecosys­tem. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009; Deme­ter, 1975)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Mada­gas­car day geckos help con­trol pop­u­la­tions of in­sects that they preys on and may play a role in pol­li­nat­ing some plant species through feed­ing on nec­tar. Mada­gas­car day geckos are pop­u­lar an­i­mals within the pet trade. How­ever, most are now cap­tive bred. This species is fre­quently dis­played in zoos for ed­u­ca­tional and dis­play pur­poses, and could be used by re­searchers to fur­ther un­der­stand and study the mech­a­nisms that en­able geckos to cling to smooth sur­faces, such as glass. (Bartlett and Bartlett, 2001)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• research and education
• controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known neg­a­tive ef­fects for hu­mans caused by Mada­gas­car day geckos.

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • bites or stings

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Mada­gas­car day gecko pop­u­la­tions are not con­sid­ered threat­ened cur­rently. They seem to be adapt­able to human dis­tur­bance. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009)

• IUCN Red List

  No special status
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  No special status
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  Appendix II

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Com­ments

The name "gecko" prob­a­bly orig­i­nated from the calls of these lizards. Geckos are the only type of lizards known to be able to make more than a sim­ple hiss. Their vo­cal­iza­tions can range from squeaks and clicks to barks and croaks. ("Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet", 2009)

Con­trib­u­tors

Court­ney Fry (au­thor), James Madi­son Uni­ver­sity, Carl Roy­croft (au­thor), James Madi­son Uni­ver­sity, Suzanne Baker (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), James Madi­son Uni­ver­sity, Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Ref­er­ences

2009. "Smith­son­ian Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park Rep­tiles & Am­phib­ians Fact Sheet" (On-line). Ac­cessed March 22, 2009 at http://​nationalzoo.​si.​edu/​Animals/​ReptilesAmphibians/​Facts/​FactSheets/​Madagascargiantdaygecko.​cfm.

Bartlett, R., P. Bartlett. 2001. Day Geckos. Haup­pauge, NY: Bar­ron's Ed­u­ca­tional Se­ries, Inc..

D'Cruze, N., J. Sabel, K. Green, J. Daw­som, C. Gard­ner, J. Robin­son, G. Starkie, M. Vinces, F. Glaw. 2007. The First Com­pre­hen­sive Sur­vey of Am­phib­ians and Rep­tiles at Mon­tagne Des Fran­cais, Mada­gas­car. Her­peto­log­i­cal Con­ser­va­tion and Bi­ol­ogy, 2/2: 87-99. Ac­cessed April 02, 2009 at http://​www.​herpconbio.​org/​Volume_​2/​Issue_​2/​D'Cruze_e­tal_2007.pdf.

Deme­ter, B. 1975. Ob­ser­va­tions on the care, breed­ing and be­hav­iour of the Giant day gecko at the Na­tional Zo­o­log­i­cal Park, Wash­ing­ton. In­ter­na­tional zoo year­book, 16/1: 130-133.

Hey­gen, E. 2004. "New records of Phel­suma mada­gas­carien­sis gran­dis in Florida." (On-line). Phel­su­ma­nia. Ac­cessed May 27, 2009 at http://​www.​phelsumania.​com/​public/​articles/​biogeography_​hawaii_​2.​html.

Mat­ti­olo, F., C. Gili, F. An­dreone. 2006. Eco­nom­ics of cap­tile breed­ing ap­plied to the con­ser­va­tion of se­lected am­phib­ian and rep­tile species from Mada­gas­car. Natura- Soc. it. Sci. nat. Museo civ. Stor. nat. Mi­lano, 95/2: 67-80. Ac­cessed April 02, 2009 at http://​www.​francoandreone.​it/​docs/​Andreone_​Mattioli%20et%20al._​NATURA.​pdf.