Hemidactylus platycephalus
—
Flat-headed House Gecko
Also known as:
Flathead Leaf-toed Gecko
This nocturnal gecko was graciously posing for me during daylight hours.
I originally ID'ed this as Hemidactylus mabouia, but an African herp expert on iNaturalist convinced me otherwise.
This pale and rather unappealing gecko was hunting down the local insect population at the Nosy Be airport snack bar.
This species is quite similar to the cosmopolitan Hemidactylus frenatus. The identities of various gecko populations in Madagascar hasn't been thoroughly studied, so this might end up being H. frenatus after all.
Printed references:
- Glaw, F., Vences, M. 2007. A Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar, Third Edition
- Spawls, S., Howell, K., Hinkel, H., Menegon, M. 2018. A Field Guide to East African Reptiles, 2nd edition