DNA has revealed the origin of the Delcourt’s giant gecko

A lizard called Delcourt’s giant gecko has long been one of herpetology’s biggest mysteries.

Now, DNA from the specimen reveals that the Delcourt’s giant gecko belongs to a group of New Caledonian “diplodactylid” geckos, researchers report June 19 in Scientific Reports. Geckos in this lineage repeatedly evolved extreme body sizes on the archipelago east of Australia.

“Compared to all other geckos, it’s monstrous,” says Matthew Heinicke, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. “It happens to be in a lineage where evolution of gigantism wasn’t a one-off event.”

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