Duvaucel's gecko

Duvaucel's gecko (Hoplodactylus duvaucelii) is a species of lizard in the family Diplodactylidae. The species is endemic to New Zealand.

Geographic range
H. duvaucelii is mostly found on predator-free offshore islands of New Zealand, including Great Barrier Island and a number of Cook Strait islands. In March 2010 a Duvaucel's gecko was caught in a trap at the nature reserve Maungatautari, indicating that it is likely not extirpated from mainland New Zealand. Genetic analysis confirmed that this gecko specimen represents a relict mainland population.

Description
H. duvaucelii may attain a total length (including tail) of up to 30 cm, with a snout-to-vent length (SVL) up to 16 cm, weighing up to 120 grams (4.2 ounces), making it the largest living gecko in New Zealand. The oldest known wild Duvaucel's gecko was aged at least 36 years.

Duvaucel's gecko is a heavy-bodied lizard with a relatively large head, and long toes with expanded pads. Its colouration is mainly grey, often with a faint olive-green hue. Usually there are 6 irregular blotches lying across the body from side to side between the back of the head and the base of the tail which is never striped.

Biology
H. duvaucelii is nocturnal but sometimes sun basks. It eats relatively large prey, such as puriri moths and wētā. Fossil evidence suggests that it was once much more widespread, but predation by introduced mammals has ensured its range is now much reduced. Duvaucel's gecko both forages on the ground and is arboreal, living in scrub and forest, and along the shoreline of the islands to which it is presently confined. Adults sometimes feed on honeydew from ngaio trees (Myoporum laetum) that host a high density of scale insects. Females do not lay eggs but give birth to live young.

Etymology
The species H. duvaucelii was erroneously named after Alfred Duvaucel, a French naturalist who explored India. The museum specimens taken to Europe were credited to him, and only later were the animals found to have come from New Zealand.

Conservation efforts
Duvaucel's gecko was reintroduced to the mainland of New Zealand at the end of 2016 when 80 animals were released in the Tāwharanui Open Sanctuary on the Tawharanui Peninsula.