Moorish gecko

Taxobox
name = Moorish gecko

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image_width = 240px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Squamata
subordo = Sauria
familia = Gekkonidae
subfamilia= Gekkoninae
genus = "Tarentola"
species = "T. mauritanica"
binomial = "Tarentola mauritanica"
binomial_authority=Linnaeus, 1758

The "Moorish gecko" ("Tarentola mauritanica" Linneus 1758), also known as Salamanquesa , "Crocodile gecko" , European common gecko , Maurita naca gecko, is a small kind of gecko that lives in most countries of the Mediterranean area.

Description

Adults can measure up to 15 cm, tail included. Robust body and flat head. Back, legs and tail with prominent conic tubercles. Its regenerated tail is smoother and doesn't have tubercles. Obtuse mouth, big eyes with no eyelids and vertical pupil. Fingers with big lateral growths and adherent division less laminae in the bottom face. Only the third and fourth fingers end in union. Brownish grey or brown coloration with darker or lighter spots. These colours change in intensity according to the light. When they are active by day their colour is darker than during the night. It can be found on many construction sites, ruins, rock fields, tree trunks, etc.

Biology

Mainly nocturnal or crepuscular. Also active during the day, on sunny days at the end of the winter especially. They like to receive sunlight near their refuge. They hunt insects and in the warmer months of the year it can be found hunting nocturnal insects near light sources, street lamps, etc. They lay 2 almost-spherical eggs twice a year around April and June. After 4 months, little "salamanquesas" of less than 5 cm in length are born. Moorish geckos are slow to mature, taking 4 to 5 years in captivity.