Rock on Gold Dust Gecko, Take your silver spoon...

You can thank the genetic wellspring that is Madagascar for Phelsuma laticauda. The Gold Dust Day Gecko is native to that isle of strange creatures, but thanks to a university student's blunder in the mid 70's, it lives here in Hawaii too. It's actually kind of all over the place.

In fact, apart from the also recently released House Gecko, it's the most prolific of the eight gecko species that have established populations on Hawaii since Polynesian settlement. It is one of the smaller day geckos (i.e. diurnal geckos that belong to the genus Phelsuma) measuring up to around 5 inches when full grown. It feeds mainly on insects and other arthropods (which are mostly introduced species in the case of the Hawaii population) and also enjoys lapping up soft fruit and flower nectar. The name comes from the gold flecks dotting its bright green skin along the nape and tail.

The Jackson's Chameleon is hard to beat on the scale of magnificent reptiles on Hawaii, but there's a special place in my heart for the Gold Dust Day Gecko. Its colors are so stunning, it sometimes brings tears to my eyes. Excellent work, Nature.