Geckos are milking honeydew-producing planthoppers in Madagascar

In this paper we describe for the first time an extraordinary example of an interspecific trophobiotic relation between reptiles and planthoppers in M adagascar. Day gecko species of the genera Phelsuma and Lygodactylus as wel l as the nocturnal gecko Homopholis sakalava (Grandidier, 1867) show a part icular behaviour that induces planthoppers of the family Flatidae to excret e a drop of honeydew in the course of an interspecific key stimulus reactio n. Similar behaviour patterns are well known between ants and green flies o r planthoppers, but have not been reported for vertebrates.