Gekko hokouensis

G. hokouensis natural range includes southern Kyushu, Ryukyu Archipelago (except several islands), Taiwan (including Lanyus and Guishan islets), and southern and central eastern continental China. The species has also been found in the Nakadorijima and Hirashima islands near northwestern Kyushu, Yabitsu of Wakayama Prefecture, western Honshu, and Hachijojima Islands of the Izu Group. After G. japonicus, G. hokouensis has the second widest distribution area in the Japanese archipelago, occupying the forests and their edges, shrubs, and urban areas. Having significantly contracted during the last ice age, the suitable habitats for G. hokouensis and Gekko sp. are now expanding as the climate warms. They are found near human and urban habitations but also tend toward montane settings like secondary forests, rocky cliffs, and rock crevices at altitudes below 1,000 meters.

In both its native and nonnative ranges, the gecko preys predominantly on insects and follows a nocturnal behavior pattern. Beyond insects, G. hokouensis diet consists of other arthropods and possibly fruits from inside human houses, possibly risking mortality during predation on some spiders. Excluding a predation case of a juvenile Okinawa Tree Lizard (Diploderma polygonatum), G. hokouensis has been considered a strict insectivore. Yet, in one study, the species was observed to feed on plant materials, possibly derived from feeding on tree sap or nectar. In several Gekko species, including G. hokouensis, males produce low amplitude calls and exhibit a tail-waiving display when courting females. The courtship call is composed of repetitive elements of multiple frequencies across a broadband spectrum with a very regular pattern. The temporal pattern in this call may convey some information about the male signaler, such as species identity, as in many frogs and insects. Female geckos have been shown to discriminate between the conspecific calls from white noise and tended to approach conspecific calls.