First records of the mourning gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris Duméril and Bibron, 1836), common house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus in Duméril, 1836), and Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko Linnaeus, 1758) on Curaçao, Dutch Antilles, and remarks on their Caribbean distributions

Jocelyn Behm

doi:10.3391/bir.2019.8.1.04

Abstract

Globally, geckos (Gekkonidae) are one of the most successful reptile families for exotic species. With the exception of the widespread invader, Hemidactylus mabouia, however, introductions of exotic gecko species are a more recent occurrence in the Caribbean islands despite extensive introductions of exotic geckos in the surrounding Caribbean region. Here we report three new exotic gecko species establishments on the mid-sized Caribbean island of Curacao (Leeward Antilles). Of the three new exotic species, the mourning gecko, Lepidodactylus lugubris (Dumeril and Bibron, 1836) has the largest distribution on Curacao and has likely been established for the longest time. The common house gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus (in Dumeril, 1836) has a limited distribution and was likely a more recent introduction. Finally, the Tokay gecko, Gekko gecko (Linnaeus, 1758), escaped from captivity and is known from a single locality. Both L. lugubris and H. frenatus have had widespread distributions in the greater Caribbean region for over 70 years yet have only been reported from Caribbean islands within the past decade. Comparatively, the scope of G. gecko introductions on Caribbean islands is similar to L. lugubris and H. frenatus but introduced populations of G. gecko in the greater Caribbean region are virtually absent. These patterns indicate that different introduction pathways (intentional vs passive) may affect the size of exotic geographic ranges, and that the rate of exotic gecko introductions to Caribbean islands may now be increasing.

Highlights

Geckos are one of the most prolific exotic reptile groups with six gecko species in the top 20 exotic herpetofaunal species globally (Bomford et al 2009)
The remaining five individuals were positively identified as L. lugubris based on phenotypic characters Because body coloration can change for both H. mabouia and L. lugubris, especially with the stress of being handled, the following characters were easiest to use to distinguish the two species in the field: L. lugubris has small, granular, smooth dorsal scales whereas H. mabouia has noticeable dorsal tubercles, and L. lugubris has a wide neck that tapers very little, occasionally with endolymphatic chalk sacs (Figure 1B), whereas H. mabouia’s neck tapers and is narrow (Figure 1C)
No map of the Caribbean region comparable to the one compiled by Hoogmoed and Avila-Pires (2015) for Lepidodactylus lugubris exists for the other two exotic gecko species we found on Curaçao

Summary

Introduction

Geckos are one of the most prolific exotic (non-native) reptile groups with six gecko species in the top 20 exotic herpetofaunal species globally (Bomford et al 2009). Two other globally successful geckos, Hemidactylus frenatus (in Duméril, 1836) and Lepidodactylus lugubris (Duméril and Bibron, 1836), both native to the Indo-Pacific, have been spread to Pacific islands outside of their native ranges since World War II or earlier (Hunsacker II and Breese 1967; Case et al 1994) yet are only reported to have established on Caribbean islands within the past two decades (Powell and Henderson 2012; Borroto-Paez et al 2015; Alonso Bosch and Borroto Páez 2017; Lorvelec et al 2017) These geckos are considered “weedy” human commensal species (Carranza and Arnold 2006) that are transported inadvertently as stowaways via cargo shipping (Powell et al 2011; Powell and Henderson 2012). Not as widespread globally as L. lugubris and H. frenatus, the southeastern Asian native, G. gecko, has several established populations outside of its native range (Henderson et al 1993), yet are rare across Caribbean islands

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