Hoplodactylus delcourti


Hoplodactylus delcourti, also commonly known as kawekaweau, Delcourt's sticky-toed gecko or Delcourt's giant gecko, is an extinct species of lizard, the largest known of all geckos with a snout-to-vent length of and an overall length of at least. It was perhaps endemic to New Zealand, where it may have been called kawekaweau. The idea that Hoplodactylus delcourti is the kawekaweau of Maori tradition has been contested.

History

According to his own report, in 1870, a Māori chief killed a kawekaweau he found under the bark of a dead rata tree in the forests of the Waimana Valley,. This is the only documented report of anyone ever seeing one of these animals alive. He described it as being "brownish with reddish stripes and as thick as a man's wrist". Whether his story was true or not is unknown. A single stuffed museum specimen was "discovered" in the basement of the Natural History Museum of Marseille in 1986; however, the origins and date of collection of the specimen remain a mystery, as when it was found, it was not labelled. Scientists examining it have suggested that it was from New Zealand and was in fact the lost "kawekaweau", a giant and mysterious forest lizard of Maori oral tradition. Attempts to extract DNA from the sole specimen in 1994 were unsuccessful though ancient DNA technology has significantly advanced since then. Trevor Worthy suggests that the specimen originated on an island of New Caledonia rather than New Zealand, due to a lack of fossil evidence.

Etymology

This animal's specific epithet, delcourti, is taken from the surname of French museum worker Alain Delcourt, who discovered the forgotten specimen in the basement of the Natural History Museum of Marseille.