Gecko in the House

Explanation: While enjoying a travel respite at Kasara Lodge in the Chitwan District of Nepal, I happened to glance upward ... and saw what looked like an x-ray of a lizard! But, no ...

... this was a live common house gecko that somehow found itself inside this light fixture. Apparently, it discovered that the light had attracted insects within the globe, and was feeding on this readily-available food source. Clever gecko!

To this end, they serve a useful function, by reducing insect pests within homes (and lodges). Yes, where the species is invasive, it can cause impact on native gecko species (Newberry and Jones 2007), and they may be expanding their range under climate change conditions (Weterings and Vetter 2018).

But in their distribution, call it a key ecological function, or an ecosystem service, it is helpful to have a gecko in the house.

Information:
Newberry, B., and D. N. Jones. 2007. Presence of Asian House Gecko Hemidactylus frenatus across an urban gradient in Brisbane: influence of habitat and potential for impact on native gecko species. Pp. 59-65 in D. Lunney, P. Eby, P. Hutchings, and S. Burgin, editors. Pest or guest: the zoology of overabundance. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman, NSW, Australia.
Weterings, R., and K. C. Vetter. 2018. Invasive house geckos (Hemidactylus spp.): their current, potential and future distribution. Current Zoology 64(5):559-573. https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zox052.

EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week