Mauritius ornate day gecko (Phelsuma ornata) 2

Mauritius ornate day gecko (''Phelsuma ornata'') is a diurnal

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

. It occurs on the island of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

and some surrounding islands and typically inhabits different trees and bushes. The Mauritius ornate day gecko feeds on insects and nectar.

Description

Ornate Day Gecko in Bras d'Eau NP - Phelsuma ornata

This gecko is one of the smallest day geckos. It can reach a total length of about 12 cm. The back of the neck and head are greyish brown and bordered by white neck stripes. The body colour is quite variable. It can be bluish green, green with a blue area on the front back, or completely blue. The flanks are brown. The snout consists of an intricate pattern of cyan, white, red and dark blue. The back is covered with red coloured dots. The tail is turquoise with red transverse bars. The ventral side is off-white.

Distribution

This species is found on

, Round Island,

Île aux Aigrettes Ile aux Aigrettes is an islet off the south-east coast of Mauritius. It functions as a nature reserve and a scientific research station. It is also a popular visitors attraction - both for tourists and for Mauritians. Geography It has an area ...

(

) and

Coin de Mire The Islets of Mauritius includes nearly a hundred tiny islets and rocks scattered around the coast of Mauritius as well as Rodrigues. Île aux Cerfs Île aux Cerfs (French for ''deer island'') is an island near the east coast of the island o ...

. It is found in the coastal areas.

Habitat

''Phelsuma ornata'' typically lives in the drier areas of Mauritius at low- and mid-elevation. It can be found on trees, other pantropic vegetation or on rocks where the original vegetation has been cleared. A resident of Flic en Flac on the west coast of Mauritius reports that their garden has been colonised by these geckos. They can be seen walking all over the garden walls and the walls of the house, and some of them venture indoors, even spending the night behind wardrobes before going outside in the morning via the open windows.

Diet

These day geckos feed on various insects and other invertebrates. They also like to lick soft, sweet fruit, pollen and nectar

Behaviour

This ''Phelsuma'' species can be quite shy in captivity. These day geckos are also surprisingly speedy. They seem not to be frightened by people - they stop on the wall, making eye contact, and look and listen to someone talking to them, but they appear not to be vocal, unlike the night geckos.

Reproduction

At a temperature of 28 °C, the young will hatch after approximately 40 days. The juveniles measure around 35 mm. In 2014, an experiment with five Mauritius ornate day geckos was launched to

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually con ...

in order to test the effect of

microgravity The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms '' weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the ...

on gecko reproduction. The geckos died from a combination of factors due to a loss of communication with the satellite, including a life support malfunction which deactivated the heating system.

Care and maintenance in captivity

These animals should be housed in pairs in a well planted enclosure. The temperature should be between during the day and dropped to around at night. The humidity should be maintained between 50 and 60% during the day and 80–90% at night. In captivity, these animals can be fed with crickets, wax moth larvae, fruit flies, mealworms and houseflies.

Notes

References

*Henkel, F.-W. and W. Schmidt (1995) ''Amphibien und Reptilien Madagaskars, der Maskarenen, Seychellen und Komoren''. Ulmer Stuttgart. * McKeown, Sean (1993) ''The general care and maintenance of day geckos''. Advanced Vivarium Systems, Lakeside CA.

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q3090700 Phelsuma Reptiles of Mauritius Reptiles described in 1825 Taxa named by John Edward Gray