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Squamata · SphaerodactylidaeEntry 8,761 of 21,572
Union Island Clawed Gecko, Gonatodes daudini

Reptilia · Squamata

Gonatodes daudiniPowell & Henderson, 2005

Union Island Clawed Gecko

Photograph by Vsnary, CC BY-SA, via Wikimedia Commons

A day-active gecko from the Neotropic region, reaching 31 mm snout to vent.

Reptilia › Squamata › Sphaerodactylidae › Gonatodes

Grows to
31.1mm
greatest recorded
Active
Diurnal
Lives
Saxicolous, terrestrial
Weighs up to
0.76g
greatest
Body length across Sphaerodactylidae

Longer than only 36% of all species in Sphaerodactylidae anyone has measured.

36% of 230 species are smaller64% larger
17 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest150 mm

The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 17 to 150 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.

What is known

35 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.

Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.

Standing in the world

Still living
Extant
Conservation status
Critically Endangered
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
2019
Population trend
Stable
Red List criteria
B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)

The animal itself

Limbs
Four legs
Venomous
No
Fangs
None
Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradientmeasured
23.1°C
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
23.1°C74 °F

mean body temperature of active individuals in nature

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
31.1mm1.25 in

max 31.1 mm SVL (Feldman et al. 2016)

Body mass · greatestcomputed
0.76g0.03 oz

largely converted from length by allometry in the source

How it lives

Active
Diurnal

(Rojas-Runjaic et al. 2010) diurnal and crepuscular (Bentz et al. 2011), crepuscular (and diurnal, if I understand Quinn et al. 2010, Henderson and Powell 2018)

Where it lives
Saxicolous, terrestrial

Leaf Litter / saxicolous (Bentz et al. 2011, Quinn et al. 2010), leaf litter and saxicolous (John et al. 2012, also implied in Henderson and Powell 2018),

Habitat
Forest, Rocky
Biome
Mangroves
Active season · months of the year
12months
Region
Neotropic
Mainland or island
Found only on islands
Highest it lives · above sea level
300m
Range size
10.9km²
Density
87–213per hectare

Breeding

Reproduction
Oviparous
Average clutch
1eggs
Eggs or young per clutch
1eggs

Bauer, pers. Comm., 25.10.2011, Langner et al. 2022

Mean clutch
1eggs
Clutches a year
6–10per year
First breeds at
18months

Naming and history

Suborder
Sauria
Infraorder
Gekkota
Subspecies
No
Described by
Powell & Henderson
Moved to another genus · since it was first described
No
Described in
2005
Type locality
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Keeping one

Union Island Clawed Gecko is assessed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Species at risk in the wild are often covered by CITES and by national law, which decide what may be bought, sold, moved across a border or kept at all — and captive-bred and wild-caught animals are usually treated differently. Check the rules where you are before acquiring one. Nothing below is a judgement about keeping this species; it is what a published welfare standard says about space, and what the animal itself was measured doing.

5 in × 5 in × 3 in(12 × 12 × 8 cm)

Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.

The standard sizes ground-dwelling species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times snout-vent length.

Lives on rock, so stable hard surfaces and basking ledges suit it.

Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.

From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 1.25 in (31.1 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

In a laboratory thermal gradient this species settled at 74 °F (23.1 °C).

Preferred body temperature, recorded in a laboratory gradient where the animal could choose freely. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.

Feeding

0kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 1 g, the heaviest recorded for Union Island Clawed Gecko — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.

An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.

What nobody knows

These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.

  • — Length snout to vent · adult female mean
  • — Length snout to vent · adult male mean
  • — Length snout to vent · adult mean
  • — Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
  • — Female length · mean, nose to tail
  • — Length nose to tail · adult male mean
  • — Length nose to tail · adult mean
  • — Largest female · snout to vent
  • — Largest male · snout to vent
  • — Largest female · shell length
  • — Largest male · shell length
  • — Hatchling length · snout to vent
  • — Hatchling length · nose to tail
  • — Largest juvenile · snout to vent
  • — Largest juvenile · shell length
  • — Egg length
  • — Egg width
  • — Body mass · a typical adult
  • — Body mass · adult female, mean
  • — Body mass at hatching
  • — Longest recorded life
  • — Diet
  • — Eats arthropods
  • — Eats vertebrates
  • — Eats plant matter
  • — How it hunts
  • — How the young develop
  • — Gestation or incubation
  • — Clutches in a year
  • — Hatchling length · smallest recorded
  • — Hatchling length · largest recorded
  • — Age at first breeding · female
  • — Mature from · youngest recorded
  • — Mature by · oldest recorded
  • — Size at maturity · smallest recorded
  • — Size at maturity · largest recorded
  • — Body temp in the wild · lowest mean recorded
  • — Body temp in the wild · highest mean recorded
  • — Colour on the back
  • — Pattern on the back
  • — Pupil
  • — Sex decided by
  • — Home range · largest recorded
  • — Active in
  • — Lowest it lives · above sea level

Others in Sphaerodactylidae

Take this data

Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.

This species as JSON · the whole dataset

Cite this page

The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Gonatodes daudini. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/gonatodes-daudini

@misc{gonatodes_daudini_2026,
  title  = {Gonatodes daudini},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/gonatodes-daudini}
}

Sources

  1. Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
  2. Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
  3. Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.