Communal nests of Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818) (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in a remnant of Atlantic Forest in northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Communal nesting has been registered for several species of lizards. The egg aggregations offer potential advantages such as protection, predator-satiation and thermoregulation. Hemidactylus mabouia is a successful colonizing species with continuous reproduction and a fixed size of two eggs each time. Here, we report two communal nests of Hemidactylus mabouia for the Parque Estadual Mata da Pipa, Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil.

Keywords

• Atlantic Forest
• communal nest
• Gekkonidae
• Lacertilia
• reproduction