Thermal Ecology Of The Atlas Day Gecko Quedenfeldtia Moerens In An Arid Area Of Morocco, And A Comparison With Its Congener Q. Trachyblepharus

The Atlas day gecko, Quedenfeldtia moerens, a Moroccan endemic lizard, is strictly diurnal and widely distributed across the dry Atlas Mountains. We quantified thermoregulation in adult males and adult females during their active season in the L' kest Mountain at 1300 m a.s.l., Anti-Atlas region of Morocco. The operative temperatures and air temperatures were sampled using data-loggers in the field from 2016 to 2018. Body temperatures of active lizards and substrate temperatures in the field were simultaneously measured. Finally, we measured preferred body temperatures (T-set) in a laboratory thermal gradient for 24 adult geckos. Mean T(set)was 33.3 +/- 0.3 degrees C, with the mean 25% and 75% quartiles being 32.3 +/- 0.3 degrees C and 34.6 +/- 0.3 degrees C, respectively. Active lizards rarely reached their T-set range from March to June, but spent most of the day within T-set in July and August. Our study suggests that Q. moerens have higher T-set than its congeneric Q. trachyblepharus living at high altitude. Likewise, thermoregulatory effectiveness of Q. moerens showed an increase from spring to summer while it was the opposite for Q. trachyblephants.