Abstract
Invasions of the tropical house gecko Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnes, 1818) in the tropical Americas are well documented. While this gecko has been reported as well established and expanding its range in Florida, here we document the first record in the United States outside of this state. We detected a small reproducing population in Cameron County, Brownsville, Texas. We expect a rapid colonization of buildings by this species in southern Texas. We consider that this potential invasion poses novel obstacles to the continued presence of the earlier invasive Mediterranean gecko Hemidactylus turcicus (Linnaeus, 1758) across Texas.
Highlights
Among reptilians, geckos from the genus Hemidactylus have the most extensive longdistance dispersal
We present the first record of the tropical house gecko in Texas and briefly discuss the potential impact of this invasion on H. turcicus, another invasive gecko
We could observe a total of about 15 H. mabouia specimens, all around one site, whereas H. turcicus was present in all sectors of the city that we surveyed
Summary
Geckos from the genus Hemidactylus have the most extensive longdistance dispersal. One of the most successful colonizers of this genus is Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jones, 1818), commonly known as tropical house gecko (Rocha et al 2011; Short and Petren 2011). Hemidactylus mabouia is a nocturnal buildingdwelling gecko, usually found in anthropic environments (Howard et al 2001) where they use areas close to artificial lighting as hunting grounds.
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