Atlas species information

Habitat

• Forest (retreat sites are in trees beneath loose bark or in deep hollows, or on the ground beneath rocks, logs or in petrol burrows).
• Creviced rock outcrops, bluffs and cliffs, including associated vegetation, in open or scrubby areas.
• Coastlines among scrub, driftwood and rocks, often right down to high water mark.
• Occupies lowland areas.
• Largely nocturnal or occasionally active in late afternoon, and sun-basks at entrance to retreat.
• Arboreal or terrestrial.

Description

• Grey, olive-grey or dark brown with bands, rows of blotches or (rarely) rough-edged stripes that are usually drab.
• Mouth lining pink and tongue pink.
• Eye yellow.
• Measures 95-161 mm from snout tip to vent; total length about 200-320 mm, and very robust in build.

Distribution

• Confined to islands in Cook Strait (including Mana Island) and off the east coast of the North Island.
• An abundant species on many islands, but scarce (often dying out entirely) in presence of mammalian predators.
• Formerly present on North Island and the Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury and Otago regions of South Island but now believed to be extinct in these areas.

Notes

• Maturity is reached in about the seventh year.
• Lifespan can exceed 40 years.
• The largest living New Zealand lizard and one of the largest geckos in the world.
• Named after French naturalist Alfred Duvaucel (1793-1825).
• In 1998 the Department of Conservation translocated 20 individuals from North Brother Island to Mana Island, establishing a population in the Wellington Region.
• Two populations have been released onto islands in the Hauraki Gulf in addition to the Mana release.
• Notes about NZ threat classification (Hitchmough 2002): Recovering at some locations, extinct or near extinct on Great Barrier.
• Notes about 2008-10 cycle of NZ threat classification for Reptiles (Hitchmough et al 2010): Recovering, offshore islands only.
• Notes about 2012-14 cycle of NZ threat classification for Reptiles: (Hitchmough, et al.
• 2012): One new record from a known site on Aotea, and one (unconfirmed) from Maungatautari.
• Secure and/or recovering on many offshore islands.