The gold-striped gecko, gold-stripe gecko, or golden sticky-toed gecko (''Woodworthia chrysosiretica'') is a species of

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

in the family

Diplodactylidae The Diplodactylidae are a family in the suborder Gekkota (geckos), with over 150 species in 25 genera. These geckos occur in Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia. Diplodactylids are the most ecologically diverse and widespread family of geck ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to New Zealand, and is only found in the

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

region and Mana Island. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

is in the collection of the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

. The gold-striped geckos can grow to be 14 cm(5.51 inches) long and are brown/yellow with stripes on their backs. They are mostly nocturnal and eat small insects and invertebrates. They live in forests and bushes, but can also live on farmland and urban environments. This species does not lay eggs, instead giving birth to live young. This species was first described by J. Robb in 1980 as ''Hoplodactylus chrysosireticus''. From July 1984 to July 1985 the gold-striped gecko appeared on a New Zealand 70 cent stamp as part of an Endangered Animal Wildlife series The IUCN Red List lists them as 'Near Threatened'. The Taranaki Regional Council currently lists this species as 'At Risk.'

References

* Australasian Reptile & Amphibian Specialist Group 1996 Reptiles of New Zealand Woodworthia Endemic fauna of New Zealand Reptiles described in 1980 Taxa named by Joan Robb Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic reptiles of New Zealand {{Diplodactylidae-stub