Social Displays of Experimentally Paired Dwarf Geckos (Sphaerodactylus clenchi)

Abstract

Members of the gekkonid genus Sphaerodactylus are small, voiceless, nocturnal or crepuscular geckos that are found in the West Indies, Central America, and Colombia (Ditmars, 1933). Because of their diminutive size and secretive habits, virtually nothing is known about their social behavior. Sphaerodactylus clenchi is a small (maximum snout-vent length, SVL, = 33 mm), recently described species from Hispaniola (Shreve, 1968). It is found among palm trash in moist habitats (Schwartz and Thomas, 1983). There is a small to moderate amount of sexual dimorphism in dorsal patterning (Schwartz and Thomas, 1983). In this paper we describe and quantify social behavior observed during encounters between experimentally paired S. clenchi. One of us (HYC) collected S. clenchi on Hispaniola during summer, 1984. The geckos were housed individually in cylindrical plastic chambers (115 mm in diameter x 105 mm high) in the Centenary College Animal Room, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA. Water was given ad libitum, and vestigial-winged fruit flies were supplied as food every two days. The temperature of the room was approximately 22 C. The geckos were exposed to a natural diel light cycle. Observations on social behavior were made from October through early December 1984. Most observations occurred from 1930-2200 h Central Standard Time because noctur-