Happy Chinese Year of the Snake, everyone! To honor the Year of the Snake, today I am going to write about… Lizards!
Specifically, I am writing about geckos. Here in LV/ES, we have three species of gecko, and hopefully this column can help you tell the difference!
The first gecko on our list is, by far, the most common: the Asian House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus). Asian House Geckos are, obviously originally from Asia. These little lizards have conquered an impressive amount of the subtropical world, and are now fairly widespread throughout habited parts of BCS. As the other part of their name implies, they are very successful living in and around houses. If you have brown or pinkish resident geckos under your air conditioner or light fixture, they are likely house geckos.
The second gecko species is the San Lucan Leaf-Toed Gecko (Phyllodactylus unctus). These geckos are quite common around rocks and, occasionally, houses and palapas. They look similar to house geckos but have more pattern and are a lighter brown color. If you look closely, San Lucan Leaf-Toed Geckos have interesting toes that spread out as they walk. The most common place to see these geckos is up in arroyos and in the mountains, though they sometimes can be seen helping to keep the moths under control around your outdoor lights.
Coleonyx variegatus, the Banded House Gecko, is the third and final species on our list. This species looks very different from the others; they boast beautiful orange stripes down there backs. They are not arboreal, meaning they do not climb, so they spend all their time on — and under — the ground. They are also strictly nocturnal, as are all of the local geckos, so you will probably not see them out much on these sub-arctic winter nights.
