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The author
Emmanuel Van HeygenI started with keeping Phelsuma in 1984, a pair of P. cepediana that I purchased in Herman Oostveen's store in Utrecht, Holland. At the same time I also came across a Phelsuma book, written in Dutch by the store owner. It later appeared to be the first and only book on the genus. Compared to today's books and articles on Phelsuma it was rather poor on information on some species and only a few colour photos were included. But it was inspiring enough to keep me going up to now.

Soon I had a huge collection of daygeckos in my luckily big bedroom at my parents home. Almost every meter of the four walls was used as terrarium space. I was fortunate to get away with it, but the fact that my father had a large collection of dendrobates below made it hard for my parents to argue.

The book on the genus by Ralf Heselhaus in 1986 grew my interest even more and observing my first Phelsuma in the wild became an obsession. Unfortunately I had to wait until 1992 to take off to my first Phelsuma destination; Seychelles. After that many travels to the Indian Ocean followed; -1993 Mayotte, Madagascar, Seychelles, Kenya -1994 Réunion, Mauritius, Mayotte - 1995 Réunion, Madagascar - 1996 Réunion, Mauritius, Rodrigues - 1997 Seychelles - 1999 Réunion, Mauritius - 2000 Seychelles - 2003 Seychelles - 2004 Réunion, Madagascar, Andaman Islands.

In 2000 I had to move from Belgium to Canada where I lived for three years Phelsuma free, except for the pair of Phelsuma v-nigra v-nigra in my office. It did not take long after my return to Europe to get the terrariums set-up again. I shrunk down a little from over a hundred terrariums to about 50 at present.

Milestones

1984 My first Phelsuma
1989 First record of Phelsuma serraticauda bred in captivity
1991 First record of Phelsuma klemmeri bred in captivity and revealed it was an egg layer
1992 The first Phelsuma observations in the wild (Seychelles)
1992 Foundation of the IG-Phelsuma in Meerane, Germany
1993 Foundation of the International Phelsuma Association (IPA) of which I was co-founder and chairman
1994 My first trip to Réunion Island, the most beautiful place on earth
1994 The first albino Phelsuma born in captivity (P. laticauda laticauda)
1995 My first lecture outside Europe in Palm Springs, California
1995 Organizer of the International Gecko Meeting in my home town Mechelen, Belgium
2004 Discovery of a new Phelsuma species in Madagascar
2004 Visit to the Andaman Islands

 

Publications

Van Heygen, E. (1992): Een nieuwe daggecko: Phelsuma klemmeri. -Phelsuma, 2(3): 60-62.
Van Heygen, E. (1993a): Focus: Phelsuma sundbergi ladiguensis Boehme & Meier 1981. -Phelsumania 1(1): 6-9
Van Heygen, E. (1993b): Enige opmerkingen bij de madagascariensis-groep, een kleurvariant van Phelsuma madagascariensis kochi Mertens 1954. -Phelsumania 1(1): 10-12.
Van Heygen, E. (1993c): Kweekverslag van Phelsuma standingi Methuen & Hewitt, 1913. -Phelsumania 1(1): 13-14.
Van Heygen, E. (1993d): Focus: Phelsuma abbotti sumptio Cheke, 1982. -Phelsumania 1(2) 26-27.
Van Heygen, E. (1993e): Aandoeningen en ziektes bij Phelsuma's Gray 1825. -Phelsumania 1(2): 28-30.
Van Heygen, E. and S. Rading (1993f): Observaties van Phelsuma borbonica borbonica Mertens 1966 in zijn biotoop op La Réunion. -Phelsumania 1(2): 33-34
Van Heygen, E. (1993g): Focus: Phelsuma klemmeri Seipp 1990. -Phelsumania 1(3): 48-49
Van Heygen, E. (1993h): Kort kweekverslag: Phelsuma leiogaster isakae Meier 1993. -Phelsumania 1(3): 50-51
Van Heygen, E. (1993i): Landendokumentatie: Het Komoreneiland, Mayotte (Maore). -Phelsumania 1(3): 52-55
Van Heygen, E. (1993j): Focus: Phelsuma quadriocellata quadriocellata Peters 1883. -Phelsumania 1(3): 56-57
Van Heygen, E. (1994a): Landendokumentatie: Het Komoreneiland, Mayotte (deel II) De gekko's van het geslacht Phelsuma. -Phelsumania 1(4): 68-70
Van Heygen, E. (1994b): Focus: Phelsuma barbouri Loveridge 1942. -Phelsumania 1(4): 71-72
Van Heygen, E. (1994c): Phelsuma klemmeri. Terra 30 (7): 110-111
Van Heygen & Van Heygen (2004a) First observations in the wild of the egg laying behaviour of Calumma tigris (Kuhl 1820). Terra 40 (2): 49-51
Van Heygen, E. (2004b) The genus Phelsuma Gray, 1825 on the Ampasindava peninsula, north-western Madagascar. Phelsuma 12:99-117
Van Heygen, E. (2004c) Remarks on the Phelsuma barbouri- and Phelsuma klemmeri- phenetic groups, Phelsuma Gray, 1825. Phelsuma 12:158-159
 

  

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