Madagascar Day Gecko

• defensaIt regrows its skin very quickly after shedding patches of it to escape a predator's grip, a defence quite separate from dropping its tail.
• It is a day-active gecko, unusual in a mostly nocturnal group, and for that reason it has a round pupil instead of a vertical one.
• It climbs glass thanks to the lamellae on its toes, covered in millions of microscopic setae that adhere by Van der Waals forces.
• It eats ripe fruit and nectar as well as insects, and in doing so pollinates and disperses seeds: in Madagascar and the Mascarenes, geckos of this genus are documented pollinators of several plants.
• Its skin is extraordinarily fragile: it comes away in strips if the animal is grabbed, a defence that lets it escape, leaving the predator with a piece of skin.
• Like many geckos, it always lays two hard-shelled eggs per clutch, which it glues into crevices.
• It is one of the commonest species in the reptile trade and is included in Appendix II of CITES.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (reptile)

Habitat & environment

Tree trunks, palms and buildings in the humid forests of northern and eastern Madagascar; also on banana plants, coconut palms and houses

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phelsuma_madagascariensis