Marbled gecko, Southern marbled gecko
Christinus marmoratus, also known as marbled gecko or southern marbled gecko, is a species of Gekkonidae (gecko) native to southern mainland of Australia, from Victoria to Western Australia. The species is well adapted to a variety of habitats, including city dwellings..
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal",...
An insectivore is a carnivorous plant or animal that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of e...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some anima...
A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct ...
A territory is a sociographical area that which an animal consistently defends against the conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against anima...
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starts withAdults reach an average (snout-vent) length of 50mm, and weigh about 2.5g. C. marmoratus have fat reserves in their tails, which can be disconnected from their body (autotomy) when threatened, to aid in escape. Tails take about eight months to regenerate. Fully regenerated tails are characterized by an abrupt change in dorsal skin colouring and pattern at the level of the original fracture plane. Original tails also have much more developed muscular bands. C. marmoratus hatchlings do not have any fat in the tail, and they drop it more readily than adults do.
C. marmoratus is Australia’s most southerly gecko. It occurs from northeastern New South Wales to southwestern Western Australia, as well as a number of islands off the coasts of South Australia and Western Australia. They use a variety of habitats including open shrubland, sclerophyll forest, riverine woodland and urban regions.
C. marmoratus is insectivorous and nocturnal. During the hot summer months they generally use deep crevices and burrows as their daytime retreat sites, and in cooler weather they aggregate under rocks. Riverine populations generally rest under the thick exfoliating bark of large eucalyptus trees during the daytime. C. marmoratus are commonly found in aggregations of up to 10 individuals, and most aggregations contain one male. Given that many geckos have been reported to engage in territorial behaviour, it is surprising that C. marmoratus aggregate so commonly (Kearney et al. reported that one quarter of individuals they found were in aggregations). It has been suggested that this activity may be related to mating success, increased vigilance or simply attraction to high-quality habitat. Angiletta and Werner (1998) found that the preferred body temperature of C. marmoratus was 27.7 °C., which is much higher than their average body temperatures during the day or night. Subsequent investigation by Kearney and Predavec (2000) revealed that C. marmoratus may thermoregulate by adjusting its posture, for instance, by raising or flattening the body to contact the rock substrate. They also seem to touch the rock with their snout before doing so, as if testing the temperature. They do vocalise, however if they are not under attack (under which they may start squeaking) they rarely vocalise.
