“I AM THE RUST.”
Who am I? Found in a botanical tropical garden in England. Not native, of course.
Submitted 1 year ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to herpetology@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/bb2bc8f8-329c-4033-a450-37c779e4a479.jpeg
Sal@mander.xyz 1 year ago
Uff, non-native makes this very tough 😅
In the Gekko family, for sure.
I think it is a house gecko genus (Hemidactylus). It resembles images of Hemidactylus platyurus, but the pattern in your image is a bit more broken than in many of the images that I can find. The whites look whiter than in the images that I find online. This might be due to the light, white balance, and true color variability. So it is a tough call!
If it is indeed this species then it could have come hidden in a plant that came from a nursery in Florida (where it is invasive) or somewhere in Asia.
fossilesque@mander.xyz 1 year ago
He lives in a giant biodome and was likely placed there on purpose. :) They’ve got all sorts of little critters in there that you can occasionally stumble into. A house variety seems fitting.
Sal@mander.xyz 1 year ago
Ooh, that changes things. I was thinking along the lines of what might have accidentally gotten there. But if it was put there in purpose then that opens up all kinds of exotic geckos. Was this biome associated with plants of some specific area of the world? Or just general tropical?
tchotchony@mander.xyz 1 year ago
If it’s in a biodome, I’m sure they’d be thrilled to give you a bit more information if you mail them your question. Please report back with the reply!