Lepidodactylus lugubris
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Lepidodactylus lugubris, known as the mourning gecko or common smooth-scaled gecko, is a species of lizard, a gecko of the family Gekkonidae. This species is widespread in coastal regions of the Indian and Pacific oceans, including the Maldives, Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Australia (Cocos Island), Western Samoa, Guam, the Society Islands, Pitcairn, and the Mascarene Islands.
It has been introduced widely in the Neotropics, including in Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Florida, The Bahamas, Guadeloupe, Ecuador (including the Galapagos), Colombia and Chile, as well as to Hawai'i and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.
Lepidodactylus lugubris measure 8.5–10 cm in length including tail (4–4.4 cm snout-to-vent). L. lugubris is cryptically coloured, typically light to dark tan with dark spots down the length of its back and a brown strip from the ear to the tip of the nose. This species is capable of changing color, and so the same individual may appear light or dark at different times during... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brownsberg Nature Park | 🇸🇷 Suriname | |
| 2 | Bastimentos Island National Marine Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Utría National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 8 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 9 | Marino Ballena National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Galápagos Islands | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 11 | Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 12 | Manuel Antonio National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 13 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 14 | Cahuita National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 15 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 16 | Chagres National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 17 | Piedras Blancas National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 18 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 19 | Farallones de Cali National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 20 | Corcovado National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salvador | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Belém | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Cali | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Barranquilla | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 5 | Manaus | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Medellín | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Guayaquil | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 8 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 9 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 10 | Santo Domingo | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basel Zoo | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | |
| 2 | Drayton Manor Theme Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | National Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Mourning Gecko sighting in Piedras Blancas National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 27th most-seen of the 35 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and September
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Mourning Gecko in Piedras Blancas National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February, May–June and October–December, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mourning Gecko sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
17th of 20
Of the 20 parks where we can rate Mourning Gecko sightings, Piedras Blancas National Park ranks 17th at about 20%. The best odds are in Brownsberg Nature Park (Suriname, about 60%), Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (Panama, about 50%) and Tortuguero National Park (Costa Rica, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mourning Gecko is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Piedras Blancas National Park (11 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
