The Northland green gecko or Gray's tree gecko (''Naultinus grayii'' ) is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 ...

, a

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Gekkonidae Gekkonidae (the common geckos) is the largest family of geckos, containing over 950 described species in 64 genera. Members of the Gekkonidae comprise many of the most widespread gecko species, including house geckos (''Hemidactylus''), tokay ge ...

. The species is found only in the Northland region of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, north of

Whangaroa Whangaroa is a settlement on Whangaroa Harbour in the Far North District of New Zealand. It is 8 km north-west of Kaeo and 35 km north-west of Kerikeri. The harbour is almost landlocked and is popular both as a fishing spot in its own ...

; it is one of the rarest and most highly sought after lizards.Fro
Emsworth Reptiles
accessed 17 November 2014.

Taxonomy

''Naultinus grayii'' was originally described by Thomas Bell in 1843.

Etymology

The specific name, ''grayii'', is in honor of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

John Edward Gray John Edward Gray, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for ...

Description

The Northland green gecko is vivid green with grey or gold-coloured markings on either side along the

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal co ...

surface. Males have a blue band along the sides just below the limbs. Underneath, the ventral surface of both sexes is bright pale green, sometimes with a yellow tinge. The inside of the mouth is deep blue with a bright red tongue. Its total length (including tail) is up to , and its snout-to-vent length (SVL) is up to .

Behaviour

The Northland green gecko is diurnal, often found sun-basking. It has an

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the Animal locomotion, locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. Th ...

lifestyle, especially favouring stands of manuka, kanuka, and

mingimingi Mingimingi is a Māori word meaning 'twisted' or similar. The name is used to describe at least three different species of New Zealand plants: *'' Coprosma propinqua'' (Mingimingi), a widespread small leaved shrub. *'' Leucopogon fasciculatus'' (T ...

Conservation status

In 2012 the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

classified the Northland green gecko as "At Risk" under the

New Zealand Threat Classification System The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand. The system was developed because the IUCN Red List, a similar conservation status system, had some ...

. It was judged as meeting the criteria for "At Risk" threat status as a result of it having a low to high ongoing or predicted decline. This gecko is also regarded as being "Data Poor".

Captivity

This species, like all the ''

Naultinus ''Naultinus'' is a genus of geckos that are endemic to New Zealand. On account of their striking colouration, species in the genus ''Naultinus'' are commonly known as green geckos. There are nine described species in the genus. Species in the ...

'' species, is regarded as the ''Holy grail'' of Geckos among their keepers, often going for a large amount of money for a pair of lizards. Outside of its home range, it is most commonly kept in Europe where there are several keepers producing offspring, though still extremely rarely seen. In 2001 a German tourist was fined $12,000 for attempting to smuggle Northland green geckos out of the country in his underwear.

References

). * Buller W (1871). "A List of the Lizards inhabiting New Zealand, with Descriptions". ''Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute'' 3: 4–11. (''Naultinus grayii'', pp. 7–8). *Nielsen, Stuart V.; Bauer, Aaron M.; Jackman, Todd R.; Hitchmough, Rod A.; Daugherty, Charles H (2011). "New Zealand geckos (Diplodactylidae): Cryptic diversity in a post-Gondwanan lineage with trans-Tasman affinities". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 59 (1): 1-22. Naultinus Reptiles of New Zealand Reptiles described in 1843 Taxa named by Thomas Bell (zoologist) {{Diplodactylidae-stub