As presently defined, this African gecko is found in Madagascar, the Comoros Islands, the Seychelles and the Gulf of Guinea islands So Tom, Principe and Annobn (the latter a province of Equatorial Guinea) (Rocha
et al. 2010, Vences
et al. 2004, Rocha
et al. 2005, Jess
et al. 2005). This is the most widespread house gecko in Madagascar, occurring throughout the island (Vences
et al. 2004), and while it is now reasonably certain to be a native species throughout Madagascar (Vences
et al. 2004, Boumans
et al. 2007) genetic evidence suggests human-mediated dispersal of native lineages between geographic regions of the island (Boumans
et al. 2007). Due to continuing taxonomic uncertainty and inconsistent historical usage of the names
H. mabouia,
H. mercatorius and
H. platycephalus, it is unclear whether populations of
H. maboiua-mercatorius from mainland Africa do, in fact, represent the nominate species, which has a Madagascan type locality (Vences
et al. 2004). In the Comoros islands this gecko appears to be represented both by an endemic lineage and by introductions from western Madagascar to the islands of Mayotte and Grand Comore (Rocha
et al. 2005, Vences
et al. 2004). It is presumed to have been introduced to the Gulf of Guinea islands by humans (Jesus
et al. 2005); however it remains possible that the species is widespread on the African mainland as part of the
H. mabouia complex, and that it may have reached these islands naturally (Rocha
et al. 2005). The population on Mah in the Seychelles may also have been introduced (Rocha
et al. 2010). Records of
H. mercatorius from Mauritius (Broadley 1977), thought to represent
H. brooki by Vences
et al (2004), have since been assigned to
Hemidactylus parvimaculatus (Rsler and Glaw 2010)
.Rights Holder: International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
Bibliographic Citation: Vences, M. & Hawlitschek, O. 2011.
Hemidactylus mercatorius. In: IUCN 2014 . IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1 . <
www.iucnredlist.org>
