Sunday 19 May
Round Island day gecko (Phelsuma guentheri)
Round Island day gecko fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Round Island day gecko description
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Reptilia |
| Order | Squamata |
| Family | Gekkonidae |
| Genus | Phelsuma (1) |
Stocky in shape, the Round Island day gecko is one of the largest day geckos of this genus. The colouration is a dull brownish-grey with a dark stripe connecting the nostrils, eyes and the ear hole. On the back dark spots may be present. In some individuals, the legs and toes have light yellow bars. The ventral side is white or yellowish. Unusually for the genus Phelsuma, the pupil of this gecko is vertically elliptical during the day (2).
- French
- Gecko Diurne De L'Ile Ronde, Phelsume De L'Ile Ronde.
- Spanish
- Geco Diurno De Guenther.
- Size
- Male snout-vent length: 133 mm (2)
- Female snout-vent length: 120 mm (2)
- Total length: up to 300 mm (2)
More »
Top
Related species
Round Island day gecko biology
The Round Island day gecko feeds on insects and other invertebrates, and is also known to lick pollen, nectar and ripe fruit (5).
Breeding all year round, the Round Island day gecko lays two eggs per clutch and up to six clutches per year. In the wild, eggs are often found in communal egg-laying sites stuck to the underside of rocks (2).
TopRound Island day gecko range
The Round Island day gecko lives only on Round Island, which is about 20 kilometres northeast of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean (4). It was previously present on mainland Mauritius and Reunion Island before introduced predators like rats and cats and mongooses were introduced and hunted it to local extinction (2) (5).
More »
Top
Species with a similar range
Round Island day gecko habitat
The Round Island day gecko is found on bottle palms, fan palms and Pandanus plants, but due to the destruction of these plants by tropical cyclones and over-grazing by goatsand rabbits over the last 150 years, this gecko is also forced to live in lava rock crevices (4) (5). The island has high rainfall and an average temperature of 23 degrees Celsius (4).
More »
Top
Species found in a similar habitat
Round Island day gecko status
The Round Island day gecko is classified as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List (1) and is listed on Appendix II of CITES (3).
Round Island day gecko threats
Over-grazing by goats and the massive impact of tropical cyclones on the vegetation of the island has resulted in a population reduction of this gecko to as few as between 600 to 1,500 individuals (6). The successful eradication of rabbits and goats and the very slow reforestation on Round Island led to a steady increase in numbers over the last decades (2).
TopRound Island day gecko conservation
A captive breeding programme has taken place at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, (formerly Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust), but is no longer run (5). The population on Round Island is monitored on a regular basis (2).
|
View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre. |
Find out more
For further information on geckos see the Phelsumania website:
http://www.phelsumania.com/public/systematics/species/phelsuma_guentheri_1.html
Authentication
Information authenticated by Matthias Goetz of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
http://www.durrellwildlife.org/
Glossary
- Genus
- A category used in taxonomy, which is below ‘family’ and above ‘species’. A genus tends to contain species that have characteristics in common. The genus forms the first part of a ‘binomial’ Latin species name; the second part is the specific name.
- Invertebrates
- Animals with no backbone, such as insects, crustaceans, worms, molluscs, spiders, cnidarians (jellyfish, corals, sea anemones), echinoderms, and others.
References
-
IUCN Red List (October, 2004)
http://www.iucnredlist.org/ - Goetz, M. (November, 2004) Pers. comm.
-
CITES (October 2004)
http://www.cites.org/ -
Phelsumania (October 2004)
http://www.phelsumania.com/public/systematics/species/phelsuma_guentheri_1.html -
The Free Dictionary (October, 2004)
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Phelsuma%20guentheri -
Virtual Museum of Natural History (October, 2004)
http://www.curator.org/LegacyVMNH/WebOfLife/Kingdom/P_Chordata/ClassReptilia/O_Squamata/InfraGekkota/Gekkonidae/phlsuma_guentheri.htm
More »Related species
Sign up to our newsletter
Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.
Get involved
ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!
Saturday 18 May
Friday 17 May
X
Close
Close
Image credit
Round Island day gecko head detail
© Nick Garbutt / Indri Images
Nick Garbutt / Indri Images
Fell Side Cottage
3 Lime Street
Shap
Penrith
Cumbria
CA10 3PQ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1931 716 227
Fax: +44 (0) 1931 716 227
nick@nickgarbutt.com
http://www.nickgarbutt.com
X
Close
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
X
Close
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
X
Close
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.