Disentangling Morphological and Environmental Drivers of Foraging Activity in an Invasive Diurnal Gecko, Phelsuma laticauda

Abstract

Abstract. In recent years, substantial variation in foraging behavior has been documented in lizards, including within and between closely related species. However, the exceptionally variable Gekkota still suffers from low sampling effort and historical averaging of foraging mode values across taxonomic levels. Herein, we address the gap in foraging modes of geckos by parsing out environmental and morphological sources of variation in foraging mode within the diurnal arboreal gecko, Phelsuma laticauda. Foraging behavior was examined at two sites on the island of Mo'orea, French Polynesia. In fall 2018, we made observations for a maximum duration of 30 min on 31 individual geckos. We found that P. laticauda exhibits a sit-and-wait strategy and that its foraging behavior is influenced by several ecological and morphological correlates: sex, body size, temperature, and date of observation. Notably, we found a trend for more active foraging by females than by males, challenging the notion that only nocturnal geckos exhibit sexual foraging diergism. The amount of time spent pausing and the maximum single movement exhibited a negative relationship with the body size of an individual. At higher temperatures, the amount of head movements, likely pertaining to locating prey, increased. Several foraging metrics varied with date of observation. Our results emphasize the need to consider multiple ecological correlates when studying foraging behavior as well as the importance of measuring multiple behavioral metrics beyond the standard percent time moving and moves per minute.