New Gecko Species Discovered

A new species of gecko that “looks like a little dragon”, with a beaky face and spiny leaf-shaped tail, has been discovered on an uninhabited Queensland island. The lizard was found on Scawfell Island, a rugged island about 50km offshore from the north Queensland city of Mackay.

Assoc Prof Conrad Hoskin, a terrestrial ecologist at James Cook University, came across the lizard during a four-day survey of the island, in “deep bouldery habitat covered in fig trees and ferns”.

Hoskin has named the animal Phyllurus fimbriatus, the Scawfell Island leaf-tailed gecko. 15…… The carnivorous reptile, described in a paper published in the journal Zootaxa, measures about 15cm in length from nose to tail. “Leaf-tailed geckoes look like mottled rock but they have little white stripes on their tail – this one has a white V-shaped stripe,” Hoskin said. 

“It’s really quite smooth for a leaf-tail – they’re usually much spikier. It’s a got a really distinct … pattern and a nice big beaky face,” he added said. “It looks like a little dragon or something.”

Hoskin spotted about 30 specimens during his survey and estimates that the newly discovered gecko occupies a total area of less than 1 square kilometre. The coast of the rugged island is lined by granite cliffs. 16…… 

Hoskin says that, “[the lizard] can’t handle the hot conditions that you’d get in most parts of the island. 17…… ” He added that the gecko probably shelters under boulders during the day and emerges at night to hunt insects, spiders and smaller geckos. 

The Scawfell Island leaf-tailed gecko may be one of the last distinct new vertebrates to be found in Australia. 18…… “It’s exciting when we get an instantly obviously new big creature – like a lizard or a frog or a bird – discovered in this day and age,” he said. F Explains rarity of new species

Scawfell Island is protected within South Cumberland Islands national park. 19…… 

“I found a few of the [feral] Asian house geckos on the island,” Hoskin said. 20…… “We know around Townsville they can build up huge numbers in the bush and outcompete native geckos.”