Happy Independence Day! Geckos Native to the U.S. To celebrate
US Independence Day, Gecko Time presents some information about
geckos which are native to mainland United States. This does not
include geckos which have been introduced from other locales.
There are three genera native to the United States, two of which
contain a single species and one which includes at least four
species. Phyllodactylus xanti and the four Coleonyx species
(brevis, switaki, reticulatus, variegatus and its subspecies)
are native to California and southwestern United States;
Sphaerodactylus notatus (“reef gecko”) is native to the Florida
Keys. Coleonyx are probably the most widely kept of all native
U.S. Geckos, both in this country and abroad. The most popular
are Coleonyx variegatus and its subspecies (C.v. abboti,
bogerti, variegatus and the less popular C.v. utahensis and san
lucan) and Coleonyx brevis. Other species found in the United
States are C.v. switaki, and reticulatus. Various Coleonyx
species are distributed througho