The lizard, which measures about 13 cm (5 inches) from head to tail
and is covered with rows of skin nodules that make it easier for it to
conceal itself on the forest floor, was collected on Manus Island in
March, 2010 and described in a report published in the journal “Zootaxa”
in April.
“We’ve officially named it Nactus kunan for its striking color
pattern – kunan means ‘bumblebee’ in the local Nali Language,” said
Robert Fisher of the USGS Western Ecological Research Center, who with
biologists from the Papua New Guinea National Museum discovered the
gecko.
“It belongs to a genus of slender-toed geckos, which means these guys
don’t have the padded, wall-climbing toes like the common house gecko,”
he added in a statement.
Fisher found two on Manus Island in 2010
and analyzed their genetics to show that the lizards were new. Two other
species also found on that trip are set for further analysis.
“This species was a striking surprise, as I’ve been working on the
genus since the 1970s and would not have predicted this discovery,”
herpetologist George Zug of the Smithsonian Institution, co-author of
the report on the new find, said.
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