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Auckland green gecko facts for kids

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Auckland green gecko
Auckland Green Gecko at Kiwi Birdlife Park.jpg
Conservation status

Gradual Decline (NZ TCS)
Scientific classification
Genus:
Naultinus
Species:
elegans
Synonyms
  • Gymnodactylus elegans
  • Hoplodactylus elegans
  • Naultinus sulphureus

The Auckland green gecko (Naultinus elegans) is a species of gecko found only in the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand, except north of Whangaroa. The Wellington green gecko, formerly considered a subspecies (together called common green gecko), is found in the southern half of the North Island and the two ranges do not overlap. Its length is up to 145 mm, snout to vent.

Apart from range, the Auckland green gecko differs from the Wellington green gecko in that it is marginally smaller and more slender in build and also the undersurfaces of the feet and toes in elegans are coloured grey green, while they are yellow in colouration in the latter species.

Naultinus elegans elegans by J.L. Kendrick
Naultinus elegans

Conservation status

In 2012 the Department of Conservation classified the Auckland green gecko as At Risk under the New Zealand Threat Classification System. 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.

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