Hoplodactylus Fitzinger, 1843

Scarsbrook, Lachie, Walton, Kerry, Rawlence, Nicolas J. & Hitchmough, Rodney A., 2023, Revision of the New Zealand gecko genus Hoplodactylus, with the description of a new species, Zootaxa 5228 (3), pp. 267-291 : 271

Genus: Hoplodactylus Fitzinger, 1843

Hoplodactylus Fitzinger, 1843: 100 . Type species (by monotypy): Platydactyle [sic.] duvaucelii Duméril & Bibron, 1836: 312 ;

extant, North Island and some adjacent islands, New Zealand. Pentadactylus Gray, 1845: 160 . Type species (by monotypy): Pentadactylus duvaucelii ( Duméril & Bibron, 1836) ; extant, North

Island and some adjacent islands, New Zealand. Platydactylus of some authors, in part, see below (not Goldfuss, 1820). Naultinus of some authors, in part, see below (not Gray, 1842). Rhacodactylus Guibé 1954 (not Bocage, 1873). Woodworthia Jewell 2008 in part (not Garman, 1901).

Diagnosis.— Hoplodactylus ( sensu stricto) species differ from most other diplodactylid taxa in the combination of relatively large body size (SVL: 95–160 mm) and head dimensions at maturity; subdigital pads>2/3 rds of toe length; 14–21 subdigital lamellae on underside of digit IV of pes; distal-most 1/3 rd of subdigital lamellae distinctively chevron-shaped, with angle of curvature of subsequent lamellae increasing proximally; ventral skin speckled and opaque.

Remarks.— Rhacodactylus Fitzinger, 1843 (type species by monotypy: Ascalabotes leachianus Cuvier, 1829 ) was introduced as an unspecified subdivision of Hoplodactylus distinct from Hoplodactylus (s. str.) Fitzinger, 1843. Genus-level taxonomy in New Zealand diplodactylids, especially application of Hoplodactylus sensu latu , has been highly unstable (see Fitzinger 1843: 100; Gray 1843: 203; Boulenger 1885: 171; Chrapliwy et al. 1961:6). Revision by Nielsen et al. (2011) considered Hoplodactylus to form the sister clade to Woodworthia Garman, 1901 and comprise two species: H. (s. str.) duvaucelii and H. (sensu lato) delcourti Bauer & Russell, 1986 . The relationship of H. delcourti Bauer & Russell, 1986 to Hoplodactylus (s. str.) species is unclear; and is presently being revised (Heinicke et al. in review). H. delcourti is by far the largest (SVL: 370 mm, n = 1) of all diplodactylid taxa and further differs from Hoplodactylus (s. str.) species in having higher subdigital lamellae counts on both the right pes: 12 (I), 20 (II), 20 (III), 23 (IV), 15 (V); and manus: 13 (I), 21 (II), 20 (III), 25 (IV), 11 (V), 3–5 additional rows of preanal pores (totaling 8–12, arranged in a subtriangular patch) and dorsal patterning of longitudinal stripes ( Bauer and Russell 1986). H. delcourti is presumed to be extinct. It is known from a single poorly preserved specimen (MNHN 1985-38) lacking locality information. A New Zealand provenance was partially inferred ( Bauer and Russell 1986) due to historical anecdotes of kawekaweau (very large lizards; Mair 1872). More recently, it has been posited that H. delcourti is unlikely to originate from New Zealand, with a New Caledonian origin inferred ( Worthy 2016). However, its distribution remains unclear, but likely derives from the southwest Pacific. We consider H. delcourti is highly unlikely to be congeneric with H. duvaucelii . However, we leave this taxon in Hoplodactylus sensu latu in the interest of taxonomic stability pending further work.

Hoplodactylus (s. s.) species presently inhabit lowland coastal forest and scrubland including flax, mānuka, kawakawa and pōhutukawa ( Hard 1954; Towns 1971; Whitaker 1968), taking refuge in tree hollows, beneath ground cover, and within deep crevices and burrows (such as of tuatara and petrels on rocky cliffs; McCann 1955; Whitaker 1968; van Winkel et al. 2018). Conversely, extinct mainland Hoplodactylus populations likely inhabited mixed podocarp-broadleaf forests prior to widespread anthropogenic landscape modification (Worthy 1987; McWethy et al. 2014). Hoplodactylus species are extremely long-lived, with wild and captive-reared individuals recorded over 50 years old (Cree & Hare 2016). Hoplodactylus is the only New Zealand diplodactylid genus in which saurophagy, including cannibalism, has been documented ( Barwick 1982).