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Hemidactylus frenatus
Asian House Gecko at Vincentia, NSW
Identification history
| Hemidactylus frenatus | 11 Jun 2022 | PatrickCampbell | ||
| Hemidactylus frenatus | 11 Jun 2022 | PatrickCampbell | ||
| Hemidactylus frenatus | 4 Sep 2020 | PatrickCampbell | ||
| Hemidactylus frenatus | 4 Sep 2020 | PatrickCampbell | ||
| Unidentified | 21 Jul 2020 | cmacgregor |
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User's notes
Common House Gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus
3 comments
PatrickCampbell wrote:
30 Aug 2020
Unfortunately it's an Asian House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus), an introduced and invasive pest. I've never seen an observation this far south or heard of it spreading this far south. Hopefully it was a single trans-located individual. Have you seen more than one?
cmacgregor wrote:
1 Sep 2020
I only saw the one, I heard it calling the week prior to this observation but could not find it until the night this photo was taken. I haven't seen or heard it since the day following this observation, it will be interesting to see if it survived the winter.
PatrickCampbell wrote:
4 Sep 2020
Hemidactylus frenatus has a distinctive three to five note call that is commonly described as "chuck, chuck, chuck". Is this what the call sounded like? Their loud vocalizations tend to be louder and more frequent than other gecko species. This call is quite different to our native geckos, especially once you're familiar with it.
It's good to hear that it was the only one seen. If it manages to survive the winter (which I hope it didn't) if it breeds with another, it could potentially establish a feral population that displaces native gecko species. H. frenatus are quite territorial. When confronting other geckos, they have violent tendencies and are more aggressive than other gecko species. It is not uncommon for them to approach and bite other geckos.
A distinguishing characteristic are the spines on the base of the tail. I reckon the facial markings are distinctive as well, although this feature is not used in keys.
It's good to hear that it was the only one seen. If it manages to survive the winter (which I hope it didn't) if it breeds with another, it could potentially establish a feral population that displaces native gecko species. H. frenatus are quite territorial. When confronting other geckos, they have violent tendencies and are more aggressive than other gecko species. It is not uncommon for them to approach and bite other geckos.
A distinguishing characteristic are the spines on the base of the tail. I reckon the facial markings are distinctive as well, although this feature is not used in keys.
Location information
- Coordinates 150.672820-35.067300
- Altitude 8.5m
- Places Vincentia, NSW Vincentia, NSW
Species information
- Not Sensitive
- Exotic
- Medium Weed or Pest
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 10 Jul 2020 06:50 PM Recorded on
- cmacgregor Recorded by
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Confirmed by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
