Hemidactylus garnotii, 13 August 2013

Hemidactylus garnotii, the Indo-Pacific gecko;
Volusia county, Florida (13 August 2013).

I freakin’ adore Indo-Pacific geckos. We had a ton of them around our last home. Though I like where we now live more, I do miss all those Indo-Pacific geckos. This is a parthenogenic species, meaning they’re all female and self-reproduce without the necessity of males and interpersonal sexual reproduction. As it turns out, parthenogenesis is actually fairly widespread throughout much of the animal kingdom. Though sexual reproduction may be the most abundant method of reproduction among vertebrates, it is not the only natural system in existence. Alas, once again we should be reminded that the reality of life on earth is far more complicated and beautiful than simplistic, culture-war-addled value statements and judgments! As for this individual, it was photographed on one of our back windows. This species sports fairly fantastic yellow and blue ventral coloring. The colors are a bit saturated in this image to highlight the coloring.