April 19 (Reuters) – A new species of gecko with black and
gold bands like a bumblebee and slender toes termed a “striking
surprise” has been discovered deep in the tropical forests of
Papua New Guinea, the U.S. Geological survey said.
The lizard, which measures about 13 cm (5 inches) from head
to tail and is covered with rows of skin nodules that make it
easier for it to conceal itself on the forest floor, was
collected on Manus Island in March, 2010 and described in a
report published in the journal “Zootaxa” in April.
“We’ve officially named it Nactus kunan for its striking
color pattern – kunan means ‘bumblebee’ in the local Nali
Language,” said Robert Fisher of the USGS Western Ecological
Research Center, who with biologists from the Papua New Guinea
National Museum discovered the gecko.
“It belongs to a genus of slender-toed geckos, which means
these guys don’t have the padded, wall-climbing toes like the
common house gecko,” he added in a statement.
Fisher found two on Manus Island in 2010 and analyzed their
genetics to show that the lizards were new. Two other species
also found on that trip are set for further analysis.
“This species was a striking surprise, as I’ve been working
on the genus since the 1970s and would not have predicted this
discovery,” herpetologist George Zug of the Smithsonian
Institution, co-author of the report on the new find, said.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies,; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)
