Hemidactylus turcicus

The Turkish Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus (Linnaeus, 1758), is a common species in lowland areas all along the Mediterranean coast and most of the Mediterranean islands, also occurring inland in some areas (in Europe in southern Spain and parts of Italy; in Asia east to Iran; northeast Africa south to Somalia). It was also introduced in the USA, Mexico, Cuba, Panama, etc., where it has adapted well and is successfully spreading to neighbouring areas (Speybroeck et al. 2016, Uetz et al. 2024 and references therein). In Bulgaria, two native gecko species occur – Mediodactylus danilewskii (Strauch, 1887) and M. kotschyi (Steindachner, 1870). An alien species, Tarentola mauritanica (Linnaeus, 1758), was recently reported from two locations (Stojanov et al. 2011, Kotsakiozi et al. 2018, Jablonski et al. 2022). Hemidactylus turcicus has been reported for the town of Plovdiv (S Bulgaria) by Shkorpil (1897), but according to Kovachev (1905) this record most probably is due to erroneous species identification and actually applies to Gymnodactylus kotschyi [= Mediodactylus kotschyi or M. danilewskii according to the modern taxonomy]. There is also an unconfirmed record of H. turcicus in SW Bulgaria: several individuals, observed in 1998 on the walls of the train station in the town of Sandanski (Gvoždík & Šnajdr 2001). This station was visited several times in the past decade by our colleagues, but only M. kotschyi was observed on the building walls (A. Pulev and G. Manolev; pers. comm. to BN). On 12 December 2024, a subadult individual of H. turcicus (Fig. 1) was detected inside an apartment building in the Poligona residential area in the capital city of Sofia (N42°39’52” E23°22’48”, 572 m a.s.l.). Species affiliation was identified based on the presence of tubercles over the body and toes with clearly visible claws and adhesive pads composed of two rows of lamellae, which do not reach the toe tips (Speybroeck et al. 2016). We consider this record as an accidental human-mediated introduction, but it also must be borne in mind that H. turcicus has proven to be a very good coloniser (Salgueiro et al. 2013). Note that the location of H. turcicus is very close to one of the locations (Druzhba residential area, Sofia) where the other gecko alien to Bulgaria (T. mauritanica) was recently found (see Jablonski et al. 2022). In view of this and given the fact that both species are largely synanthropic (Rato et al. 2011), we believe that it is necessary to conduct monitoring in this part of the city of Sofia. This could clarify the situation, i.e. whether these are random finds or there are other geckos on the walls of the buildings, which in turn would be a prerequisite for the formation of a local population.