High occupancy of European leaf-toed gecko Euleptes europaea in two island stands of Eucalyptus sp.: tree selection, co-occurrence and habitat effect

The effective conservation of a species requires a thorough knowledge of its ecology. Long considered to live exclusively in rocky habitats, the European leaf-toed gecko (Euleptes europaea) has in fact been observed in vegetated and wooded habitats at several locations throughout its range. The tendency of this species to use these habitats seems to be clearly supported by its prehensile tail characteristic of geckos with arboreal behaviour. To better assess tree occupation by E. europaea and other co-occurring geckos, a site-occupancy survey was conducted in 2022 on the testing site of DGA (French MoD the Procurement Agency) of Levant Island (Hyeres, France). Two stands of Eucalyptus sp. containing 68 trees were selected to monitor. One stand lies in an anthropised context, consisting of scattered woodland and clear ground (stand 1), and the other represents a natural forest context with dense ground vegetation (stand 2). The results revealed high occupancy by E. europaea in both stands, with an average occupancy probability of 0.57 (CI 0.40-0.72). The Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) and Moorish gecko (Tarentola mauritanica) had an average occupancy probability of 0.28 (CI 0.16-0.44) and 0.07 (CI 0.03-0.16) respectively. In stand 2, E. europaea was the only gecko species found, suggesting that it is better adapted to this type of forest habitat, which may represent a refuge for this species. In view of these results, the ecology of this species should be reconsidered and the research broadened by systematically including vegetated and forest habitats.