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Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Gekkonidae  
Madagascan Day Gecko
Phelsuma grandis Gray, 1870
FEL-soo-mah — GRAN-dis
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SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Native to Madagascar. It was introduced via the pet trade during the 1990s and is established in the Florida Keys, Monroe County, Florida (Bartlett and Bartlett, 1999, A Field Guide to Florida Reptiles and Amphibians. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas; Krysko et al., 2003, Florida Scientist 66: 222–225; Krysko, 2019, Phelsuma grandis. Pages 336–338 in Krysko et al. (Editors) Amphibians and Reptiles of Florida. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida) and on O’ahu, Hawai'i (Kraus, 2002, Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 69: 48–52). (Krysko, Kenneth and Travis W. Taggart. 2025. Established Exotic Species. Pages 64-87 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

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Open icons indicate questionable records, including those with coordinate uncertainty greater than 10,000 m (approximately 6 miles). Click a marker to view metadata.
Occurrences:; 563 Total; 316 Museum; 247 Other

The locality database contains 8,094,850 records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Logged-in, registered users may report a potential issue directly from the marker popup.
Shaded range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH. (Version: 2025.04.03.12.46.12)
Download map data (GeoJSON):
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: Florida

Taxonomic Etymology:
The largest species in its genus.
Phelsuma — A patronym honoring Murk van Phelsum (1730–1779), a Dutch physician and naturalist.
grandis — From Latin grandis, meaning “large” or “great.” Refers to the species’ large size relative to other members of Phelsuma.

First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.


Selected References:
1870 Gray, John E. Note on a new night-lizard (Phelsuma grandis) from Madagascar. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 4(6):19
1996 McKeown, Sean. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians in the Hawaiian Islands. Diamond Head Publishing, Inc., Los Osos, California. 172pp.
1999 Bartlett, Richard D. and Patricia P. Bartlett. A Field Guide to Florida Reptiles and Amphibians. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas. 280pp.
2002 Kraus, Fred. New records of alien reptiles in Hawai'i. s. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2000, Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 69:48-52
2003 Krysko, Kenneth L., A. Nichole Hooper, and Coleman M. Sheehy III. The Madagascar giant day gecko, Phelsuma madagascariensis grandis Gray 1870 (Sauria: Gekkonidae): A new established species in Florida. Florida Scientist 66:222-225

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