Close up of a tropical house gecko in Florida. The tropical house gecko, Afro-American house gecko or cosmopolitan house gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) is a species of house gecko native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is also currently found in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean, where it has been inadvertently introduced by humans.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Hemidactylus mabouia has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens12
BINs1
Marker genes1
eDNA detections11
Countries5
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P655 bp consensus11 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 100% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Diversity (π)0.08%
Haplotypes2
BIN1
Most divergent pair0.15%
Where individuals differ — all 1 variable positions, in barcode order
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P
animal barcode
06Genome at a glanceGoaT · TreeOfSex
The complete instruction manualHemidactylus mabouia carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size2 053 800 000 bp
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
THIS GENOME Hemidactylus mabouia2.05 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
TreeOfSex · vert — Olmo E., Signorino G.G. (2005) ChromoRep: A reptiles chromosomes database. ↗
07Deep time~2 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin2 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type25 174 records
Wild obs. + sensor18 827
Museum / vouchered6 303
Cultivated / captive1
Other43
Origin
Native158
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO40 380 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy81% within 1 km
≤100 m 10 104≤1 km 2 240≤10 km 1 238>10 km 1 566
15 148 georeferenced · 3 679 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor18 827
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy55% within 1 km
≤100 m 1 010≤1 km 567≤10 km 939>10 km 341
2 857 georeferenced · 3 446 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence6 303
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy
no georeferenced coordinates · 1 records without
Open the mapnot free-living1
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions28 of 72 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
University of the South Pacificlocation not on record
1 024
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
816
CASlocation not on record
736
Cambridge, US
526
Teylers Museumlocation not on record
392
Washington, US
298
New Haven, US
266
Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldilocation not on record
248
INMAlocation not on record
216
Ann Arbor, US
198
PUC-RSlocation not on record
160
Wuzhou, CN
119
Berkeley, US
104
Brussels, BE
94
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
88
RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record
68
Universidade Federal de Juiz de Foralocation not on record
68
Saint John, CA
65
Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas - SINCHIlocation not on record
59
Los Angeles, US
44
Paris, FR
42
Provo, US
34
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
34
Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural History Collectionlocation not on record
33
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)location not on record
29
North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record
28
MUHNAClocation not on record
27
EL PASO, US
23
Londrina, BR
23
National Museums of Kenyalocation not on record
22
South Kensington, GB
18
Copenhagen, DK
18
München, DE
16
UENFlocation not on record
16
mcnhlocation not on record
13
Buenos Aires, AR
12
University of Nebraska State Museumlocation not on record
12
Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL)location not on record
11
Philadelphia, US
11
UNICAMPlocation not on record
10
The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobagolocation not on record
10
Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record
9
GBClocation not on record
9
San Diego, US
8
University, National Zoological Collection of Surinamelocation not on record
8
8
Seattle, US
7
Museo de Zoologia, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuadorlocation not on record
6
Fort Hays State University, Sternberg Museumlocation not on record
5
KwaZulu-Natal Museumlocation not on record
5
Stockholm, SE
5
IRSENlocation not on record
4
UFMSlocation not on record
4
APSUlocation not on record
4
San Nicolás de los Garza, MX
4
Mexico City, MX
3
University of Texas at Arlingtonlocation not on record
3
Universidad de La Salle (La Salle)location not on record
3
Toronto, CA
2
Geneva, CH
2
Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record
2
Ciudad de México, MX
2
CENUR.NORESTE.SEDE.RIVERAlocation not on record
2
ASUlocation not on record
2
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
1
Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record
1
SNSDlocation not on record
1
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ)location not on record
1
Institut de Recherches Agronomiques et Forestières (IRAF)location not on record
1
Montgomery, US
1
University of KwaZulu-Natallocation not on record
1
ASNHClocation not on record
1
72 institutions · 6 146 of 6 303 vouchered records shown · 63 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA11 detections
Where the DNA of Hemidactylus mabouia was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found11
Studies independent surveys1
Countries4
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 11 detections have coordinates
Open the map4 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median24.9 °C 24.0–26.1
Seasonal swing summer↔winter2.30 °C
Max temp (day)28.7 °C 27.0–29.4
Min temp (night)22.2 °C 20.7–24.8
Precipitation167 mm/mo 125–167
Air humidity69.4 % 63.9–70.6
Moisture balance39.4 mm/mo -7.20–45.1
Vapour deficit937 Pa 909–1,214
Wind speed1.10 m/s 0.9–5.70
Cloud cover50.3 % 26.4–50.6
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 11 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation7 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility25 079 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System95 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI11 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics12 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
Tree of SexTree of Sex Consortiumgenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗