These geckos were sharing the walls of Relais du Masoala with geckos that I thought were Hemidactylus mabouia. I was more interested in these guys because I'd never seen them before, whereas I've seen H. mabouia in many parts of the world. Unfortunately, these were both less common and more shy. (However, I later discovered that the geckos that I thought were H. mabouia had been reclassified as another species that I hadn't seen before, Hemidactylus mercatorius). I'm extremely curious about the origin of the name "Mutilating Gecko".

Here is a list of all the reptiles and frogs I saw on this 2007 trip to Madagascar.

These geckos range from Madagascar through southeast Asia and west to Hawaii and even southwest Mexico. Authorities believe that they are probably native to southeast Asia and introduced by humans everywhere else (and who am I to doubt "authorities"?).

My Travelogues and Trip Lists page includes a complete list of the herps I saw in the wild on this trip to Malaysia, as well as a travelogue of the trip.

They aren't particularly concerned with elevation, being present here in the highlands of Mt. Kinabalu as well as down at sea level and everywhere in between.

A couple of these cosmopolitan geckos roamed the patio ceiling of our remote rainforest lodge. They were the only ones I saw in Sri Lanka.

These geckos are one of the very few Madagascar lizards that are considered to be an introduced species. Some authorities believe that they may have been introduced accidentally by the Malayo-Polynesian people that settled Madagascar around 1500 years ago.

Here is a list of all the reptiles and frogs I saw on this 2023 trip to Madagascar.