‘Giant’ forest creature — kept in terrarium for 37 years — turns out to be new species
Following lumberjacks into the forest of a South Pacific island, a pair of scientists checked the downed trees and found some “giant” brown creatures. They didn’t realize it until almost 40 years later, but they’d discovered a new species.
Scientists Friedrich Wilhelm Henkel and Joachim Sameit trekked into a forest of New Caledonia in 1987 to search for lizards. During the excursion, the pair found four “robust” and unfamiliar-looking geckos.
Intrigued, researchers captured the geckos and kept them alive in a terrarium for decades. They suspected the captive animals were a new species but didn’t have the DNA data to know for sure — until recently, according to a study published Nov. 18 in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa.
One of the geckos “died a few years ago” and another shed some skin, giving researchers a chance to collect DNA and analyze it, the study said. Looking at the results, researchers realized they’d discovered a new species: Rhacodactylus willihenkeli, or Willi’s giant gecko.
Willi’s giant geckos can reach about 1 foot in length, the study said. They have “robust” brown bodies with some “folds” of “loose skin,” a “triangular” head and “short,” “thick” limbs.
Photos show the new species. Several of the geckos caught in 1987 were still alive 37 years later when researchers wrote the study. The animals are “probably more than 50 years old since these were collected as adults.”
In captivity, Willi’s giant geckos were bred several times, researchers said. Females reproduce about “three or four” times per year, laying two eggs each time. The eggs incubate “about 90 days” before the babies hatch.
Little is known about the lifestyle of wild Willi’s giant geckos. The lizards were originally found at “a large, forested area in the mountains,” the study said. A 1987 photo shows lumberjacks cutting down trees nearby.
Researchers said they named the new species “willihenkeli” after Henkel, known as “Willi,” one of the scientists who first encountered the animals. He “has studied geckos of the genus Rhacodactylus in their natural habitat during about a dozen excursions to New Caledonia and while keeping and breeding these fascinating animals in terrariums for decades.”
So far, Willi’s giant geckos have only been found at one site in central New Caledonia, a French island territory east of Australia.
The new species was identified by its size, coloring and DNA, the study said.
The research team included Gunther Köhler, Sameit, Robert Seipp and Katharina Geiss.
This story was originally published November 19, 2024 at 11:03 AM with the headline "‘Giant’ forest creature — kept in terrarium for 37 years — turns out to be new species."
