Herpetology Notes, volume 13: 1111-1112 (2020) (published online on 28 December 2020)

Additional record of the invasive mourning gecko Lepidodactylus lugubris (Duméril and Bibron, 1836) from Trinidad and Tobago, with comments on citizen science observations

Renoir J. Auguste1,* and Adam Fifi2

The mourning gecko Lepidodactylus lugubris (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/38460700). (Duméril and Bibron, 1836) is a small gekkonid species The second is from the well-developed urban town of native to Southeast Asia. It has, however, since spread St. Augustine in northwestern Trinidad (10.6498°N, across the globe, including across the Neotropics 61.4075°W; Fig. 2), submitted to iNaturalist on 11 June (Hoogmoed and Avila-Pires, 2015). The mourning 2020 by Lena Dempewolf (https://www.inaturalist.org/ gecko’s neotropical distribution across the Caribbean observations/49217616). The Blanchisseuse observation includes the Greater Antilles (Bosch and Paez, 2017) is not near any major port or densely human-populated and the Lesser Antilles (Lorvelec et al., 2011). Here, area. we report the first documentation of Lepidodactylus Most records of the invasive L. lugubris appear lugubris from near the capital city of Trinidad and confined to urban areas in its exotic range, but some Tobago. We also remark about Trinidad and Tobago’s observations do include sightings far inland (e.g., L. lugubris records on iNaturalist, and comment about Hoogmoed and Avila-Pires, 2015). However, the its introduction and implications of its potential spread records of L. lugubris on iNaturalist from St. Augustine across the country and the benefit of citizen science and our observation near Port of Spain indicate that the observations. species may have first been introduced to urban areas On 31 May 2020, an individual gecko identified as near main roadways in the country (Fig. 2) and has since Lepidodactylus lugubris (Fig. 1) was observed in a spread across the island to less human-populated areas, residential house, at West Moorings, northwest Trinidad, likely by human activities. Given that the species has less than 5 km from the capital city Port of Spain been documented in nearby Venezuela (Señaris et al., (10.6792°N, 61.5627°W; Fig. 2). We distinguished 2017; Fig. 2), it is not surprising that L. lugubris is now our observed specimen from other geckoes in the being reported for Trinidad. country based on unique morphological characteristics, Lepidodactylus lugubris is the third species of including its distinct endolymphatic sacs, as noted by gekkonid gecko recorded for Trinidad and Tobago Señaris et al. (2017), and a lack of pointed tubercles on (Murphy et al., 2018). It is currently uncertain as to how its tail, which can be found in the other two gekkonid widespread L. lugubris is across Trinidad and whether species currently known from the country, Hemidactylus there are any individuals on Tobago. However, given that mabouia and H. palaichthus (Murphy et al., 2018). In addition to our sighting, there are photographic voucher records of L. lugubris for Trinidad on iNaturalist (inaturalist.org). The first is from the remote village Blanchisseuse in north-central Trinidad (10.7949°N, 61.3063°W; Fig. 2), submitted to iNaturalist on 9 February 2020 by Kirsten Osa

1 Department of Life Sciences, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad. 2 West Moorings, Trinidad and Tobago. Figure 1. Mourning gecko Lepidodactylus lugubris from * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] West Moorings, Trinidad. Photograph by Adam Fifi. 1112 Renoir J. Auguste & Adam Fifi

Figure 2. The current distribution of mourning geckos, Lepidodactylus lugubris, on Trinidad. Localities are abbreviated as WM – West Moorings (this report), BC – Blanchisseuse (iNaturalist), and SA – St. Augustine (iNaturalist). The inset shows Trinidad’s location circled in yellow, showing its proximity to Venezuela, northern South America.

the mourning gecko is sympatric and may be confused Lorvelec, O., Levesque, A., Bauer, A.M. (2011): First record of with other geckos, such as H. mabouia (Señaris et al., the mourning gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris) on Guadeloupe, 2017), we encourage residents to photograph geckos French West Indies. Herpetology Notes 4: 291–294. Murphy, J.C., Downie, J.R., Smith, J.M., Livingstone, S.R., in their homes and post the images to iNaturalist, as Mohammed, R.S., Lehtinen, R.M., et al. (2018): A Field Guide citizen science involvement can help expand our limited to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Trinidad and Tobago. Port knowledge of the distribution of these invasive geckos of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago Field across the country. Establishment of viable populations Naturalists’ Club. of the non-native L. lugubris in Trinidad and Tobago Señaris, C., Rojas-Runjaic, F.J.M., Aristeguieta, M.M., García- may have implications for native geckos, for example, Señaris, G. (2017): Second record of the invasive gecko in competition for resources. Lepidodactylus lugubris (Duméril & Bibron, 1836) (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Venezuela. Checklist 13 (2): 208.

Acknowledgements. We thank Tony Gamble (Marquette University) and Olivier Lorvelec (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique) for assistance in identifying the gecko, and Kirsten Osa and Lena Dempewolf for sharing their photographs on iNaturalist.

References

Bosch, R.A., Páez, R.B. (2017): First record from Cuba of the introduced mourning gecko, Lepidodactylus lugubris (Duméril and Bibron, 1836). BioInvasions Records 6: 297–300. Hoogmoed, M., Avila-Pires, T.C.S. (2015): Lepidodactylus lugubris (Duméril & Bibron 1836) (Reptilia: Gekkonidae), an Accepted by Graham Walters introduced lizard new for Brazil, with remarks on and correction of its distribution in the New World. Zootaxa 4000 (1): 90–110.