Lepidodactylus legubris hatchlings (off topic)

[AnthonyCaponetto]

Hey guys,

I finally hatched a couple of "mourning geckos" (lepidodactylus lugubris).

They're called Mourning Geckos because they're parthenogenic, meaning the females have no mates...because they don't need them. The females produce viable eggs without any fertilization by a male.

Even more interesting, they're actually a hybrid of two Lepidodactylus species. When the hybrids (L. lugubris) reproduce, the offspring are essentially clones of their mother. However, because the two parent species exist in many places throughout the world, their color and pattern is variable. That said, there are different looking clones of L. lugubris. Furthermore, L. lugubris can be bred back to their parent species, making for what would be considered a triploid clone. So far as I can tell, mine are a diploid clone referred to as clone A, which originated in Japan.
(see link at bottom of post for photos of the different clones)

I got one single egg the first two times she laid. I smashed the first egg on accident. (They're egg gluers, so the eggs are hard shelled, easily broken and are stuck to whatever they lay them on.)

The second egg was doing great, but after about six months, I figured it went bad. Then one day I went walking by the tank and noticed a little gecko on the glass. As soon as I slid the top of the tank open, the gecko fell onto my foot...dead as a door nail. Apparently, it had tried to escape when I was dropping some roaches into the tank and I never saw it. I smashed the poor thing's head in the lid. lol (It sucked, but was still morbidly funny after how long I'd been waiting for one to hatch).

Well, I finally got two live hatchlings...although it did take a couple days for me to find them. They're so tiny, they were hiding in the little holes in a piece of cork bark.

Anyway, without further ado, here they are...they're about 1" total in length and weigh about 1/10 of a gram.








To read more about these fascinating little geckos, go to this link....
http://www.geckoworld.net/care_l.lugubris1.htm

BTW, They're so quick that I had to put them in the fridge for a few minutes to slow them down for the pictures. lol

[AnthonyCaponetto]

Here's the proud momma...

This was actually taken when she was about 3/4 grown. She's about a whopping 3" total length now.



Just FYI, she's light colored in the photo, but just like Crested Geckos, they go from light to dark.

[Dr Alan]

Interesting story, Anthony. Nice pictures!

[untytled]

Maybe that's why they're called mourning geckos. you spend more time mourning, the ones that have been smashed and such before you get some that you can enjoy. Sh** happens. Glad you finally got some. ?. Are they going to be feeding on pinhead crickets or are the crickets going to be feeding on them. LOL. Man, they're tiny!

[Sobedrummer007]

Awsome, congrats

[SanSkrit]

Congratulations! Very cool species.

[nycherper]

Thats great anthony! How long were they in the fridge? Sounds funny!

Little confused, if they don't need to mate, how is a hyrbid formed from two different Lepidodactylus species?

[AnthonyCaponetto]

Originally Posted by untytled

Are they going to be feeding on pinhead crickets or are the crickets going to be feeding on them. LOL. Man, they're tiny!

Believe it or not, they seem to do really well on Crested Gecko Diet, but I still give them lobster roach nymphs occasionally. The babies could take fresh lobster roach nymphs, but they're too hard to find in my roach colony, so for right now, I'm just feeding them CGD.

[AnthonyCaponetto]

Originally Posted by nycherper

Thats great anthony! How long were they in the fridge? Sounds funny!

Little confused, if they don't need to mate, how is a hyrbid formed from two different Lepidodactylus species?

I left them in the fridge for three minutes...just long enough to get them to not run for the hills when I took them out.

Lepidodactylus lugubris is not actually its own species. It's a hybrid of two other Lepidodactylus species. When a male Lepidodactylus sp. (a species that has never been named) and a female Lepidactylus moestus first bred, they created a hybrid that we now know as L. lugubris.

Normally, hybrids are not named as their own species, but they had already been described and named Lepidodactylus lugubris before anyone ever realized that it was actually a hybrid of two other Lepidodactylus species.

Anyhow, when the two parent species breed, some of the hybrid (L. lugubris) babies are males and they can successfully breed with a female L. lugubris (although it's not necessary) or a female L. moestus (the maternal parent species).

In the wild, sometimes those male L. lugubris will breed a female L. moestus...making what you would call a triploid clone, which is still considered L. lugubris and is still parthenogenic. Another way to get a triploid clone would be for a male of the paternal parent species (Lepidodactylus sp.) to breed a female L. lugubris.

I'm no expert on the subject, so it's kinda hard to explain, but you can go to this link to read more about it...
http://www.geckoworld.net/care_l.lugubris2.htm

[rbl]

Nice pictures and story. Seems I got a sick sense of humor also =)