Record sizes for the Turkish house gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, from Aegean islands, Greece

Yuval Itescu; Rachel Schwarz; Michael Moses; Panayiotis Pafilis; Shai Meiri

Record sizes for the Turkish house gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, from Aegean islands, Greece

Yuval Itescu, Rachel Schwarz, Michael Moses, Panayiotis Pafilis, Shai Meiri

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Insular animals are thought to evolve extreme sizes compared to the mainland. The reported maximum body size of the Turkish house gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, does not go beyond 61 mm in snout-vent length, 120 mm in total length and 3.6 g in mass, across its distribution. Here we report much higher size estimates for this species on the Aegean islands of Kassos, Sifnos and Anafi. The commonly perceived drivers of insular gigantism vary across these islands. Therefore, the reasons for the extreme size on these islands, while on other Aegean islands live "normal-sized" geckos, are unclear.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	24-26
Number of pages	3
Journal	Herpetological Bulletin
Issue number	138
State	Published - 1 Dec 2016
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Animal Science and Zoology

Cite this

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title = "Record sizes for the Turkish house gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, from Aegean islands, Greece",

abstract = "Insular animals are thought to evolve extreme sizes compared to the mainland. The reported maximum body size of the Turkish house gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, does not go beyond 61 mm in snout-vent length, 120 mm in total length and 3.6 g in mass, across its distribution. Here we report much higher size estimates for this species on the Aegean islands of Kassos, Sifnos and Anafi. The commonly perceived drivers of insular gigantism vary across these islands. Therefore, the reasons for the extreme size on these islands, while on other Aegean islands live {"}normal-sized{"} geckos, are unclear.",

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T1 - Record sizes for the Turkish house gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, from Aegean islands, Greece

AU - Itescu, Yuval

AU - Schwarz, Rachel

AU - Moses, Michael

AU - Pafilis, Panayiotis

AU - Meiri, Shai

PY - 2016/12/1

Y1 - 2016/12/1

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AB - Insular animals are thought to evolve extreme sizes compared to the mainland. The reported maximum body size of the Turkish house gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, does not go beyond 61 mm in snout-vent length, 120 mm in total length and 3.6 g in mass, across its distribution. Here we report much higher size estimates for this species on the Aegean islands of Kassos, Sifnos and Anafi. The commonly perceived drivers of insular gigantism vary across these islands. Therefore, the reasons for the extreme size on these islands, while on other Aegean islands live "normal-sized" geckos, are unclear.

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JO - Herpetological Bulletin

JF - Herpetological Bulletin

IS - 138

ER -

Record sizes for the Turkish house gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, from Aegean islands, Greece

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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