PHYLLODACTYLIDAE

Krysko, Kenneth L., Burgess, Joseph P., Rochford, Michael R., Gillette, Christopher R., Cueva, Daniel, Enge, Kevin M., Somma, Louis A., Stabile, Jennifer L., Smith, Dustin C., Wasilewski, Joseph A., Kieckhefer Iii, Guy N., Granatosky, Michael C. & Nielsen, Stuart V., 2011, 3028, Zootaxa 3028, pp. 1-64 : 41

PHYLLODACTYLIDAE

The Moorish Gecko, Tarentola mauritanica ( Linnaeus 1758) , is indigenous to the Mediterranean and North Africa ( Schleich et al. 1996). Bartlett and Bartlett (1999, 2006b) and Meshaka et al. (2004) report T. mauritanica from Broward, Miami-Dade, and Lee counties; however, they did not provide a specific locality nor voucher. On 7 June 2009 at 2236 h, CRG and DC collected an adult T. mauritanica (photographic voucher UF 157285; MorphoBank M88647; Fig. 56) on a wall just outside the property of the animal importer's facility at 6450 Stirling Road, Hollywood, Broward County (26.04591 o N, - 80.21976 o W). On 20 May 2010 at 2000 h, DC and Ana M. Martinez collected a neonate (5 mm SVL) T. mauritanica (UF 157795) on a wooden curb at this same site. On 2 June 2010 at 2100 h, CRG observed an adult and collected a juvenile (53 mm SVL; UF 164378) T. mauritanica on a wall at this same site. On 20 August 2010 at 2215 h, GNK, CRG, and Stuart F. Willicombe observed an adult T. mauritanica at this same site, but it escaped capture. This species likely was released or had escaped (stage 2) from enclosures, and the presence of a juvenile along with multiple adults suggests reproduction (stage 3) in the wild. This represents the first known vouchers for this species in Florida.