The Reunion Island day gecko (Phelsuma borbonica borbonica) is a subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of gecko

Gecko

Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm....

s. It is diurnal and lives in northern Réunion

Réunion

Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...

. It typically dwells on banana trees and feeds on insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s and nectar.

Description

This lizard belongs to the middle-sized day geckos. It can reach a total length of about 16 cm. The colour can vary, depending on which population they belong to. The body colour is bluish green or dark green. The head has a yellowish colour, finely mottled with brown. On the back and tail there are brownish or red-brick coloured dots which form a network of reticulated bars. The read spots on the head and neck are smaller and denser than those on the back. The ventral surface is yellowish with brown marbling.

Distribution

This species only inhabits northern part of Réunion

Réunion

Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...

. It was found at; Les Hauts du Brûlé, Les Hauts Mensiol, Morne de Patates à Durand, near Bois de Nèfles, Belle-Vue, La Bretagne, Beaumont les Hauts, near St.Marie and Les Hauts de la Perrière near St. Suzanne.

Diet

These day geckos feed on various insects and other invertebrates. They also like to lick soft, sweet fruit, pollen

Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...

 and nectar.

Care and maintenance in captivity

These animals should be housed in pairs and need a large, well planted terrarium. The temperature should be between 25 and 28°C. The humidity should be maintained between 75 and 100. In captivity, these animals can be fed with cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

s, wax moths, fruit flies

Tephritidae

Tephritidae is one of two fly families referred to as "fruit flies", the other family being Drosophilidae. Tephritidae does not include the biological model organisms of the genus Drosophila , which is often called the "common fruit fly". There are nearly 5,000 described species of tephritid...

, mealworm

Mealworm

Mealworms are the larval form of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, a species of darkling beetle. Like all holometabolic insects, they go through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult...

s and houseflies

Housefly

The housefly , Musca domestica, is a fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha...

.