New county records of the Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) in northeastern Texas, with comments on range expansion

Abstract

The Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) was first observed in the United States in Key West, Florida as early as 1915 (Stejneger, 1922). At least two other independent introductions of H. turcicus are believed to have occurred, one in New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 1940’s (Etheridge, 1952), and the other near the border of Mexico in Brownsville, Texas, in the early 1950’s (Conant, 1955). They have since been found in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia (Hare, 2006; NatureServe, 2006; Reed et al., 2006). In the southern states, only North Carolina and Tennessee have no records. H. turcicus is nocturnal and in its introduced range associated with urban and suburban habitats, feeds on insects attracted to outdoor lights (Davis, 1974). Its success as a colonizer has been attributed to quick maturation, limited interspecific competition, low predation pressure, and multiple clutches per reproductive season (Selcer, 1986). In Texas, Davis (1974) showed that H. turcicus had expanded its range north, using highways as corridors to human domiciles, but remaining below a line from Del Rio through San Antonio to Austin and Houston. With few barriers and increasing transportation of this species to new localities, H. turcicus is becoming common throughout urban areas of the southern United States (Meshaka et al., 2006). In Texas it is currently documented in more than 70 counties (Dixon, 2000). Although no studies have documented negative impacts on native species, its expanding distribution and abundance should be documented. Currently, 28