In addition to venturing further afield, I’ve been poking around some local areas of late. Living in Townsville puts me close to a variety of interesting biomes, such as the Barrier Reef, the brigalow belt, the wet tropics, and the Mitchell grass downs (not that there’s anything interesting out there).
But sometimes one only needs to look as far as one’s lounge room to see something new and exciting. While sitting on the couch and chatting to a mate recently, I noticed an Asian house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) running around the wall. Being common, I thought nothing of it. But my mate (who apparently doesn’t read my blog) wanted to move it outside, so he grabbed it. I’m glad he did, because it turned out to be a mourning gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris), and reptick 351 for me. I often use the phrase ‘armchair tick’ to denote a reptick that I’ve made without leaving my house. This is generally because a species has been split, and I’ve seen both the old species and the new one. But sitting on the couch and getting a reptick brings new meaning to the phrase!
Mourning gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris)
