Gecko fact

Mourning geckos are one of the most widely distributed reptiles on Earth thanks to human shipping

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Quick answer: Believed to originate from around the Marshall Islands or the wider tropical Pacific, the species has hitchhiked in cargo and potted plants to colonise coastlines across the Pacific, Indian Ocean, Caribbean, Florida, and Hawaii.

Believed to originate from around the Marshall Islands or the wider tropical Pacific, the species has hitchhiked in cargo and potted plants to colonise coastlines across the Pacific, Indian Ocean, Caribbean, Florida, and Hawaii. Parthenogenesis is a huge part of that success story — a single stowaway female can found an entire new colony without needing a mate to arrive with her.

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Mourning geckos are an all-female species that reproduces entirely without males

Lepidodactylus lugubris is one of a small number of known parthenogenetic vertebrate species — every female lays fertile eggs that are essentially genetic clones of herself, with no fertilisation required at all.

Males do occasionally turn up, but they're extremely rare and effectively non-functional

Very occasional male-phenotype individuals have been documented in both wild and captive populations, but they are considered exceedingly rare and are not known to father viable offspring.

The species is actually a complex of many distinct genetic clonal lineages, not one uniform genome

Researchers have identified numerous separate clonal lines, some diploid (2 sets of chromosomes) and some triploid (3 sets), believed to have originated from ancient hybridisation events between related Lepidodactylus species.

The name 'mourning gecko' comes from the Latin species name lugubris, meaning 'mournful' or 'gloomy'

The epithet is generally thought to reference the species' drab, subdued natural colouration and its soft, plaintive chirping and clicking calls, rather than anything about its behaviour — mourning geckos are, if anything, unusually social for a gecko..

Unlike some popular pet geckos, a mourning gecko's tail DOES grow back after being dropped

Like most gecko species, mourning geckos can voluntarily drop their tail (autotomy) as a defence mechanism, and will regenerate a new one over the following weeks to months.

Mourning geckos are genuinely tiny — adults run about 3–4 inches (7.5–10cm) total length and only 2–4 grams

This is a fraction of the size of many popular pet geckos, and it drives nearly every husbandry decision: feeder insects have to be far smaller than what's sold for most reptiles, water dishes need very shallow sides, and enclosure gaps that would be irrelevant for a larger gecko are real escape routes for a hatchling barely bigger than a grain of rice..