Northern Striped Gecko

“In December of 2025 I was finally able to visit Aotearoa New Zealand, a country that had for years been one of my top travel destinations. One of my biggest targets was the Northern Striped Gecko (Toropuku inexpectatus), found only on the Coromandel Peninsula.

 

What was previously thought to be a monotypic genus found only on a couple islands off the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island was upended in 1997, when a striped gecko was found in a house almost 300 miles away on the North Island. Early genetic testing of this individual confirmed that it was not closely related to the Stephen’s Island Striped Gecko (T. stephensi) and likely represented a local, previously undocumented population. They received a formal scientific description in 2020, with their specific epithet referencing how “unexpected” such a discovery was. Even though they were known to occur in the region, the decades following produced very few records of this cryptic species.

 

Seeing as New Zealand separated from the supercontinent Gondwana over 80 million years ago, its terrestrial biodiversity was either carried along or arrived later, by rafting, swimming, or flying. Life here evolved without the presence of land mammals, as they did not arrive on the islands until the arrival of humans in the last ~1000 years. Many of the birds here forage on the ground or are flightless, and their herps (limited to skinks, geckos, frogs, and the famous tuatara) generally produce few offspring but live long lives. These are all traits which put this incredible faunal assemblage at intense risk of extinction, as they are inherently naïve to mammalian predation. Rats, cats, weasels, ferrets, possums, dogs, and pigs are the worst offenders, having driven many birds and reptiles to or past the brink of extinction, but herbivores like deer and rabbits also work to destroy the vegetation that the native species rely upon. Certainly, other factors like habitat loss and climate change are also threatening Aotearoa’s native species, but the primary issue will always be invasive mammals. This presents a relatively straightforward solution: get rid of them.

 

New Zealand has a goal to remove every invasive mammal from the whole country by the year 2050, and are working intensely to do so. Predator-free islands and fenced mainland reserves have been hugely successful in restoring and reestablishing populations of native species..

 

Enter Mahakirau Forest Sanctuary. Over the past 25 years they have been working intensely to maintain a predator-controlled unfenced sanctuary on the Coromandel Peninsula and have seen fantastic successes. Their target species are the Helm’s Butterfly, Archey’s Frog, Hochstetter’s Frog, and Northern Striped Gecko. Following years of intensive (and ongoing) mammal control, these and other native species have become more abundant in the Sanctuary than in the rest of the Coromandel Peninsula.

 

A few days into my trip I was lucky to take part in a gecko and frog survey at Mahakirau. We saw over 10 Archey’s Frogs – nearly the record total for one night. This species lays their eggs under rocks or in tree cavities, not in the water! Once hatched, the froglets (having small tails) are carried around on the male’s back until they are ready to head out on their own. We also saw a Hochstetter’s Frog, another species in the endemic genus Leiopelma, whose closest relatives are the tailed frogs we have in the Pacific Northwest.

 

Out of the cool, misty night air a striped gecko materialized on the frond of a kiokio, a beautiful, large species of fern. The gecko, a female, was measured and photos were taken to document her unique head patterning. She turned out to be a new gecko for their long-term monitoring project and they gave me the honor of naming her. I selected Sade, as at the time I’d been listening to a lot of music by the R&B/soul singer of the same name. We found three striped geckos that evening, each one a testament to the power of invasive species management.

 

Nearly all of New Zealand’s unique native species are threatened with extinction, but they can be saved. Supporting the Predator Free NZ program and organizations like Mahakirau are critical to conservation in the country. To see the fantastic, herculean work that Mahakirau does, please visit their website and donate to their efforts: https://mahakirau.wordpress.com/ ” – Noah Morales