EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

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This Gecko Is A Dwarf

Credit & Copyright:  Dr. Bruce G. Marcot

  

Explanation:  As tiny as my little finger is this easily-overlooked denizen of the arid savanna country.   This week we are in Sinya Wildlife Management Area of northern Tanzania, within view of Mount Kilimanjaro.  Clinging to this log is a member of the dwarf gecko genus Lygodactylus.  This is a yellow headed dwarf gecko -- actually, the largest of the dwarf geckos, making it, paradoxically a "giant dwarf."  But still it grows to only about 3.5 inches (9 cm) long.    This species is poorly known but it is quite territorial, which accounts for the fact that I saw only solitary individual males.   The genus of dwarf geckos occurs mainly in Africa and Madagascar, with perhaps two species found in South America but their taxonomic affinities are uncertain.  Genetic studies suggest that dwarf geckos may have originated in Madagascar, dispersed to mainland Africa, and then back to Madagascar (Röll et al. 2010).       Information:      Röll, B., H. Pröhl, and K.-P. Hoffmann.  2010.  Multigene phylogenetic analysis of Lygodactylus dwarf geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae).  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 56(1):327-335.