Gigarcanum delcourti (Delcourt's Giant Gecko)

[another specialist]

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Hoplodactylus_delcourti.png

[another specialist]

www.reptilis.org/Insolite%20gecko.htm

[another specialist]

sordes said:

It is now even available as toy: www.megacom.net/~arkones/yowie/yff25.html

[another specialist]

www.forums.repashy.com/search.php?searchid=154399

[another specialist]

www.scribd.com/doc/2621714/Mysterious-CreaturesA-Guide-To-Cryptozoology

[surroundx]

Hitchmough, R. A., Hoare, J. M., Jamieson, H., Newman, D., Tocher, M. D., Anderson, P. J., Lettink, M. and Whitaker, A. H. (2010). Conservation status of New Zealand reptiles, 2009. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 37(3): 203-224.

Hitchmough, R.; Anderson, P.; Barr, B.; Monks, J.; Lettink, M.; Reardon, J.; Tocher, M.; Whitaker, T. (2013).
Conservation status of New Zealand reptiles, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 2. Department of Conservation, Wellington. 16 pp.

[Melanie]

An Extinct Giant Kiwi Gecko Was Found Stuffed In A Museum Basement

www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/11/this-specimen-of-an-extinct-giant-gecko-was-found-in-a-museum-basement/

[Melanie]

Taxidermist Wim Spiekman examines a gecko (Hoplodactylus delcourti) at the National Museum, Wellington in 1990. Somehow this specimen languished in the natural history museum in Marseille, France, from 1869 to 1986, when researchers claimed that it might have originated in New Zealand. It was sent to New Zealand in 1990 as part of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. This gigantic reptile (it measures 37 centimetres from snout to vent) shares some features with New Zealand geckos. Bones that may have come from the same species were unearthed in Otago in 1988. A large gecko known as kawekaweau also features in Māori mythology. Because of the lack of other specimens and locality data, some researchers are not yet convinced that New Zealand was the true origin of this specimen.

www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/10943/gecko

[surroundx]

Worthy, Trevor H. (2016). A Review of the Fossil Record of New Zealand Lizards, pp. 65-86. In: Chapple, David (ed.). New Zealand Lizards. Springer. XVI + 375 pp. [Abstract]

[surroundx]

Hitchmough, R.; Barr, B.; Lettink,M.; Monks, J.; Reardon, J.; Tocher, M.; van Winkel, D.; Rolfe, J. (2016). Conservation status of New Zealand reptiles, 2015. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 17. Department of Conservation, Wellington. 14 pp.

[surroundx]

Reappraising the evolutionary history of the largest known gecko, the presumably extinct Hoplodactylus delcourti, via high-throughput sequencing of archival DNA

Hoplodactylus delcourti is a presumably extinct species of diplodactylid gecko known only from a single specimen of unknown provenance. It is by far the largest known gekkotan, approximately 50% longer than the next largest-known species. It has been considered a member of the New Zealand endemic genus Hoplodactylus based on external morphological features including shared toe pad structure. We obtained DNA from a bone sample of the only known specimen to generate high-throughput sequence data suitable for phylogenetic analysis of its evolutionary history. Complementary sequence data were obtained from a broad sample of diplodactylid geckos. Our results indicate that the species is not most closely related to extant Hoplodactylus or any other New Zealand gecko. Instead, it is a member of a clade whose living species are endemic to New Caledonia. Phylogenetic comparative analyses indicate that the New Caledonian diplodactylid clade has evolved significantly more disparate body sizes than either the Australian or New Zealand clades. Toe pad structure has changed repeatedly across diplodactylids, including multiple times in the New Caledonia clade, partially explaining the convergence in form between H. delcourti and New Zealand Hoplodactylus. Based on the phylogenetic results, we place H. delcourti in a new genus.

doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35210-8