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Scientists have discovered a new species of gecko that “looks like a miniature dragon” with a beaky face and spiny leaf-shaped tail on an uninhabited Queensland island in northeastern Australia.
The new lizard was discovered on Scawfell Island, a mountainous island located about 50 kilometers offshore from the city of Mackay in northern Queensland.
Associate Prof Conrad Hoskin, a terrestrial ecologist at James Cook University, came across the lizard during a four-day survey of the island, in “deep bouldery habitat covered in fig trees and ferns”.
“It’s super exciting – it’s every biologist’s dream to find a new species,” he said.
Hoskin has named the animal Phyllurus fimbriatus, the Scawfell Island leaf-tailed gecko, with its scientific name referring to the fringe of spines around the lizard’s tail.
The carnivorous reptile, described in a paper published in the journal Zootaxa, measures around 15cm in length from nose to tail.
In contrast to their mottled rock appearance, leaf-tailed geckoes have tiny white stripes on their tails; this one has a white V-shaped stripe, according to Hoskin.
“For a leaf-tail, it’s actually fairly smooth; they’re typically considerably spikier,” he added. “It has a wonderful huge beaky face and a pretty striking design, he continued. That appears to be a small dragon or something.”
Hoskin spotted about 30 specimens during his survey and estimates that the newly discovered gecko occupies a total area of less than one square kilometer.
