 This lizard continues to expand its range in California. Black and Red dots on the map indicate some of the areas where it has been found and could be established. Click for a larger view.
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Electronic Field Guide to the
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Introduced: not native to California
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| Adult, Imperial County |
Sub adult, Imperial County |
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Adult on ceiling, Imperial County |
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| Adult, Fresno County © Patrick Briggs |
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Adult, San Marcos, San Diego County
© Nathan Smith |
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Adult, Dark Phase, Travis County, Texas |
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Adult, Light Phase, Travis County, Texas |
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The six pictures directly above all show the same large adult gecko.
The gecko was dark in color when I found it during an ice storm underneath a piece of limestone covered with ice and brought it inside for photographs. It lightened up after a few minutes.
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Sub-adult, Travis Co., Texas |
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Juvenile, Travis Co., Texas |
Adult with re-generated tail,
Travis County, Texas |
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| Juvenile, Travis Co., Texas |
Adult, on outdoor motel lamp in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona. |
Adult, Travis County, Texas |
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Mediterranean Geckos can climb up sheer surfaces, even glass. |
Underside of adult, showing toe pads |
Sub-adult, Travis County, Texas |
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| Adult, Yuma County, Arizona |
Juvenile found on motel bathroom tissues, Cochise County, Arizona |
Habitat |
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| Mediterranean Geckos have been found in the desert city of Ocotillo, Imperial County. |
Mediterranean Geckos have been found in several locations in the Coachella Valley in Riverside County, including Desert Hot Springs, Rancho Mirage, and Palm Springs. Here you can see several geckos gathered under an outdoor light on the wall of a Palm Springs motel.
© 2005 William Flaxington |
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| These geckos been spreading up the Central Valley along the Highway 99 corridor in cities including Bakersfield, Fresno, Kingsburg, and Chowchilla. |
Mediterranean Geckos have been found in several locations in the Imperial Valley, Imperial County, including Imperial, El Centro and Calexico. |
| Short Videos |
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| And adult and a juvenile Mediterranean Gecko run around on a white wall. |
An adult Mediterranean Gecko licks its lips on a motel wall in Yuma. |
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| Description |
Size |
| 1 3/4 - 2 3/8 inches long from snout to vent (4.4 - 6cm) 4 - 5 inches long including tail (10.2 - 12.7 cm) |
| Appearance |
A small, slightly flattened lizard with conspicuous large bumpy tubercles on the skin. Eyes are large with no lids and vertical pupils.
A pale translucent pinkish white color in the light phase (and gray to dark brown in the dark phase) with dark blotching and spotting sometimes forming indistinct bands. The tail is round and ringed with dark and light bands. Juveniles have more prominent tail banding. The toes have broad pads with claws extending beyond them and no webbing. |
| Voice |
| Males make mouselike squeaking sounds during fights and probably to claim their territory. Males also make a series of clicking sounds to advertise their presence to females during the breeding season. |
| Behavior |
Nocturnal and Crepuscular. Males are territorial and will defend good hunting areas. Often seen sitting motionless under external lights waiting to feed on insects attracted to the light, and on walls and ceilings stalking insects. When approached too closely, they will run into a nearby shelter.
Active all year long, but more active during hot periods. These geckos appear to prefer hot climates in regions with short, mild winters, although they are apparently established in places with cold winters including Baltimore and Oklahoma. (Locey & Stone 2006) They are definitely capable of surviving short periods of freezing temperatures - I witnessed a population of these geckos survive a severe ice storm in central Texas, including one individual I found surviving under a large rock that was completely encased in ice. |
| Diet |
| A variety of small invertebrates. |
| Reproduction |
| Mates from March to July. These geckos are sexually mature in a year or less. Females lay 1 - 2 calcereous eggs 1 - 3 times per year from April to August in communal clutches. Eggs can be seen under translucent belly skin of females. |
| Range |
Native to the Mediterranean area, the Middle East, Somalia, and India. Reported in the United States in 1955 in Brownsville Texas, (and 1910 in the Florida Keys) this gecko has spread rapidly, and is currently found in scattered urban locations in much of the southern part of the U.S.A. including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida.
Some locations where this gecko has been seen in California are listed below, although it may not be established in all of these areas. I will continue to add locations here and on the map as I hear of them. If you see any or know of any locations not on this list, please email me.
Alameda County
Alameda
Oakland
Contra Costa County
Concord Naval Weapons Station
Fresno County
Fresno
Kingsburg
Glenn County
Chico
Imperial County
Brawley
Calexico
El Centro
Imperial
Ocotillo
Winterhaven
Kern County
Bakersfield
Ridgecrest
Los Angeles County
Chatsworth
West Covina
Madera County
Chowchilla
Orange County
Orange
Riverside County
Blythe
Coachella
Desert Hot Springs
Hemet
Indio
La Quinta
Murrieta
Norco
Palm Springs
Rancho Mirage
Riverside
San Bernardino County
Earp
Hesperia
Needles
San Bernardino
San Diego County
Escondido
Oceanside
San Diego
San Joaquin County
Stockton
Solano County
Vacaville
Tulare County
Tulare
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| Habitat |
| Urbanized, often living in or near human dwellings. I have seen them sheltering under house shingles, cracks between bricks, under outside wall lamps, and under rocks, downed wood, and planters in the yard, and in and under boxes in the garage. They can also be found under palm fronds, and other surface objects such as rocks, wood, and tin, and in crevices in rocks and holes in trees. At one rural location in Travis county near the ruins of some old buildings we found many of them under stacks of old roofing tin. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
Recently introduced into California, this successful stowaway is expanding its range slowly, although low winter temperatures will probably restrain them to the warmer southern parts of the state. The probable reason for the rapid spread of this gecko is the accidental transport of geckos and their eggs on trucks, cars, trains, etc., in almost any kind of shipmment. (I removed a gecko from the inside of a wooden moving container in Austin TX that I was about to ship across the country.) One gravid gecko, or one egg mass could be responsible for the establishment of this gecko species in a new location.
The threat to native species by this invasive gecko is uncertain. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Gekkonidae |
Geckos |
| Genus |
Hemidactylus |
House Geckos |
Species
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turcicus |
Mediterranean House Gecko |
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Original Description |
Linnaeus 1758
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Hemidactylus - half fingered (hemi = half, daktylos = toe or finger)
turcicus - Latin, meaning "from Turkey"
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Alternate Names |
Turkish Gecko
Mediterranean Gecko
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Related or Similar California Lizards |
Phyllodactylus nocticolus - Peninsular Leaf-toed Gecko
Coleonyx variegatus variegatus -Desert Banded Gecko
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
GeckoWeb
Stebbins, Robert C., and McGinnis, Samuel M. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Revised Edition (California Natural History Guides) University of California Press, 2012.
Stebbins, Robert C. California Amphibians and Reptiles. The University of California Press, 1972.
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., and F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Powell, Robert., Joseph T. Collins, and Errol D. Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. The University Press of Kansas, 1998.
Garrett, Judith M. and David G. Barker. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Texas. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston Texas, 1987.
Life History of a Successful Colonizer: The Mediterranean Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, in Southern Texas
Kyle W. Selcer
Copeia, Vol. 1986, No. 4 (Dec. 23, 1986), pp. 956-962
doi:10.2307/1445292
Factors Affecting Range Expansion in the Introduced Mediterranean Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus
KENNETH J. LOCEY AND PAUL A. STONE
Journal of Herpetology, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 526–530, 2006
Copyright 2006 Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
There are no significant conservation concerns for this non-native animal in California.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
None |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
None |
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| California Department of Fish and Wildlife |
None |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
None |
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| USDA Forest Service |
None |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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This lizard continues to expand its range in California. Black and Red dots on the map indicate some of the areas where it has been found and could be established. Click for a larger view.
