The Collared Forest Gecko

The dark outlined white shoulder marking is characteristic of the males of this taxon. It was a female of this little (about 3” total length) lizard that I found first, and had she remained quiescent, I would have never seen her. Although the sun shown overhead, bathing the Amazonian canopy in heated brilliance, the rainforest trail that I trod was darkly shaded and relatively cool. The lizard, herself dark except for a single white tailtip band, was also on a dark, mouldering treetrunk. But for the nervously waving tail she. A collared gecko, Gonatodes concinnatus, was nearly invisible. But even in the gloom of the rainforest that seemingly disembodied patch of white waving to and fro caught my attention. I readied the camera but she darted to one side to never be seen by me. About 20 feet further on the trail and I happened across another female of this diurnal gecko wagging her strongly patterned tail. This time I got a picture. But it was not until the next trip that I had an opportunity to see a male of this beautiful lizard. In fact, I got to see 2 males. The first was brought to me by a villager who had caught the lizard and secured it in a small plastic bag. I was delighted at having the opportunity to carefully observe the lizard. But I was even happier when later that day I was walking by the bird observation platform and I saw another male, this one perched quietly on a large bracket fungus. Camera…

This is a male collared forest gecko in an Amazonian rainforest.

Female collared forest geckos are much less colorful than the males.