Duvaucels Gecko
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| Hoplodactylus duvaucelii (Duméril & Bibron, 1836) |
Duvaucel's gecko (Hoplodactylus duvaucelli) is a gecko found only on predator-free offshore islands of New Zealand, including Great Barrier Island and a number of Cook Strait islands. Its total length is up to 300 mm (snout to vent up to 160 mm) weighing up to 120 grams, 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 animal 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. It is nocturnal but sometimes sun basks. It eats relatively large prey, such as Puriri moths, and wetas.
Fossil evidence suggests that they were once much more widespread, but predation by introduced mammals has ensured its range is now much reduced. These geckos both forage on the ground and are arboreal, living in scrub and forest, and along the shore line of the islands to which they are presently confined.
The species 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.
