Largest gecko ever

The largest species of gecko lizard ever is the extinct Delcourt's giant gecko (Hoplodactylus delcourti), aka kawekaweau, of New Zealand. Remarkably, this striking species is known from only a single mounted taxidermy specimen, measuring 61 cm (2 ft) long, which had been on display at the Marseilles Natural History Museum in France for more than a century before, in 1979, it was recognised by curator Alain Delcourt as representing a species unknown to science, which was formally named and described in 1986.

No record exists as to where this specimen was collected, but as it resembles certain much smaller gecko species native to New Zealand and also matches traditional folklore descriptions of a legendary New Zealand lizard called the kawekaweau, scientists believe that it must have originated there, but no living specimen has ever been recorded.