# Mabouya (*Hemidactylus mabouia*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/mabouya  
Data as of: 2026-11-14

The mabouya (Hemidactylus mabouia) is a species in the family Gekkonidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh about 4.16 g and reach 5.82 cm in length.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 4.16 g |
| Length | 5.63 cm – 5.82 cm |
| Lifespan | Not recorded |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 2.6 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | grassland, shrubland |
| Egg incubation | 48 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 1 – 2 |
| Age at maturity | 11 months – 12 months |
| Litters or clutches a year | 3.5 – 12 |
| Reproduction | Eggs |
| Active | Day and night (cathemeral) |
| Brain mass | 33 mg |
| Conservation status | Not recorded |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Recorded prey and predators

 Recorded predators: Spotted bush snake (*Philothamnus semivariegatus*). Each pair is recorded by at least two datasets compiled by Global Biotic Interactions (https://www.globalbioticinteractions.org/, CC0 1.0).

## Introduced range

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists it as introduced in 31 countries, and flagged as invasive in 8 of them. Introduced: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Caribbean Netherlands, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, United States, Venezuela. Invasive: Aruba, Bolivia, Caribbean Netherlands, Cuba, Curaçao, Guyana, Mexico, Venezuela. Source: https://griis.org/ (CC BY 4.0).

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Reptilia
- order: Squamata
- family: Gekkonidae
- genus: Hemidactylus
- species: *Hemidactylus mabouia* (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818)

Synonyms: *Gecko aculeatus*, *Gecko cruciger*, *Gecko mabouia*, *Gecko mabuia*, *Gecko tuberculosus*, *Gekko armatus*, *Gekko armatus*, *Gekko incanescens*, *Gekko incanescens*, *Gekko incanescens*, *Gekko mabouia*, *Hemidactylus armatus*, *Hemidactylus benguellensis*, *Hemidactylus exaspis*, *Hemidactylus frenatus var. calabaricus*, *Hemidactylus gardineri*, *Hemidactylus mabuia*, *Hemidactylus mabuya*, *Hemidactylus mandanus*, *Hemidactylus mercatorius*, *Hemidactylus persimilis*, *Hemidactylus platycephalus*, *Hemidactylus sakalava*, *Hemidactylus tasmani*, *Hemidactylus tuberculosus*

## Common questions

### How big is the mabouya?

An adult mabouya weighs 4.16 g and measures 5.63 cm – 5.82 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

### Is the mabouya an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the mabouya as invasive in 8 countries, including Aruba, Bolivia, Caribbean Netherlands, Cuba and Curaçao. It lists it as introduced in 31 in all.

### What kind of animal is the mabouya?

The mabouya (Hemidactylus mabouia) belongs to the family Gekkonidae in the order Squamata.

### What eats the mabouya?

Animals recorded preying on the mabouya include spotted bush snake. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size](https://animaltraits.org/), CC0 1.0, 1.0.7. Herberstein, M.E., McLean, D.J., Lowe, E. et al. (2022) AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size. Scientific Data 9: 265. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01364-9. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6468938
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI): interpreted data products](https://www.globalbioticinteractions.org/), CC0 1.0, 0.11. Poelen, J.H., Simons, J.D. & Mungall, C.J. (2014) Global Biotic Interactions: an open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics 24: 148–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.08.005. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22691479, with each record's original reference.
- [Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS)](https://griis.org/), CC BY 4.0, 2026-11-13. Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group.
- [ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4), CC BY 4.0, v1-2. Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4
- [SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b), CC0 1.0, 1.0-dryad-v5. Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b

Cite as: Mabouya (Hemidactylus mabouia). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/mabouya