Giant extinct gecko isn't from New Zealand after all

Discuss natural history subjects not strictly related to birds. Reports of interesting mammal, reptile, and invertebrate sightings are welcome.
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David Riddell
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Giant extinct gecko isn't from New Zealand after all

Postby David Riddell » Tue Jun 20, 2023 7:28 am

Recent genetic studies show that the world's largest gecko, originally described as Hoplodactylus delcourti and thought to be from New Zealand (known only from a single unlabelled museum specimen) actually belongs to a New Caledonian group and probably comes from there.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/dna ... tery-gecko
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Giant extinct gecko isn't from New Zealand after all

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Wed Jun 21, 2023 11:16 am

David beat me to it. An interesting development.
They place it in a new genus as Gigarcanum delcourti.
Now we need something else to explain kawekaweau, the 'large forest lizard' of Māori folklore.
Paper available at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35210-8
AlfieB77
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Re: Giant extinct gecko isn't from New Zealand after all

Postby AlfieB77 » Wed Jun 21, 2023 7:23 pm

Very interesting
131 birds on my NZ life list, latest bird Cattle Egret

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