Afrogecko porphyreus
Silhouette: Jose Carlos Arenas-Monroy · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The marbled leaf-toed gecko (Afrogecko porphyreus) is a gecko found in southern and southwestern South Africa (including many offshore islands) and in Namibia. It is a flat, medium-sized gecko. Afrogecko porphyreus has a mottled, greyish body, a long tail and sometimes a pale stripe along its back. However, its colouration varies from almost black-and-buff patterning to smudged shades of buff. It is an adaptable little forager, hiding under debris, beneath bark, among rocks, and even in city houses.
These geckos eat large numbers of small insects, so a population of them living on one's property serves as a natural form of pest-control. Their diet is an array of invertebrates, including feeder insects. Domestic cats commonly kill large numbers of these lizards, sometimes exterminating them in a local area. They also are preyed upon by species of spiders in the genus Palystes, which may be more effective gecko predators than cats.
As in many similar gecko species, one of their major defences is autotomy of their tails. In some populations nearly all mature specimens have tails that have either regenerated or are in the process of regeneration. This... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 933 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 35 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko in Cape Town on a given day, against about 20% in August, the lowest month.
Between 6 and 9 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Cape Town, in our data
Cape Town is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko sightings: about 40% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Gekkonidae
The closest relatives of the Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko that you can see in Cape Town (family Gekkonidae, Typical Geckos) are Cape Dwarf Gecko (about 30%) and Cradock Thick-toed Gecko (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Cape Town (933 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
