Endangered
Tākitimu gecko
Mokopirirakau cryptozoicus
The Tākitimu gecko is an endemic species of gecko in the family Diplodactylidae found in the Southland region of New Zealand.
Appearance
Tākitimu gecko are a medium sized gecko of up to 87mm snout-vent length and 18g weight. Colouring is grey on their upper surface, with pale herringbone markings, that extend down their tail. Some individuals have orange blotches and spots, other have purple-grey markings outlined in black.
Tākitimu gecko were first described by Jewell and Leschen in 2004 as Hoplodactylus cryptozoicus.
Range and habitat
The Tākitimu gecko is found only in and around Fiordland, in the lower part of the South Island, among them the Takitimu Mountains, Rees Valley, northern Richardson Mountains, Waitutu Forest and Resolution Island. The overall population is estimated to be fewer than 10,000 individuals, scattered in pockets across the distribution range, ranging in elevation from 200m to 1150m. The Tākitimu gecko is an endemic species of gecko in the family Diplodactylidae found in the Southland region of New Zealand.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
In crisis
As of 2021 the Department of Conservation (DOC) classified the Tākitimu gecko as Nationally Vulnerable under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix III. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Tākitimu gecko is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Tākitimu gecko, Wikidata item Q3015371. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
