A tan-brown lizard dashed across sun-warmed rock in coastal Angola and ran straight into the scientific record. It belonged to a trio of day geckos that science had never formally described.
The new species, all from Namibia’s neighbor to the north, include the large-spotted Namib day gecko, Rhoptropus megocellus, alongside R. minimus and R. crypticus. They were documented after multi-year field campaigns across the country’s arid southwest.
The study’s corresponding author, Javier Lobón-Rovira from the Universidade do Porto (UP), worked alongside a handful of colleagues from various academic institutions to compile the findings.
New gecko species in Angola
Angola’s reptiles have been gaining attention as access improves and surveys expand. A comprehensive review of the country’s herpetofauna noted rapid growth in documented diversity and underscored several hotspots of endemism in the southwest.
“Angola has recently emerged as one of the most gecko-diverse countries in mainland Africa,” wrote Lobón-Rovira.
Much of this diversity has only come to light in the past decade, as improved access and modern genetic tools have revealed species that were previously overlooked.
What the scientists found
Between 2018 and early 2025, the team assembled 14 museum vouchers and additional tissue samples from previously unknown populations.
Careful comparisons across body measurements, scale counts, and color patterns separated the candidate species without leaning on a single trait.
Genetic results supported what the eyes suggested. The new species formed distinct groups that did not share nuclear haplotypes with close relatives and showed double-digit mitochondrial distances in standard markers.
Large-spotted new gecko stands out
Rhoptropus megocellus is a robust day gecko with paired ocelli, eye-like dark spots, marching down its back. The first pair, at the neck, can meet and form a collar-like band.
It differs from similar Angolan species by the arrangement of enlarged scales under the tail, by a single large internasal scale, and by fewer terminal scales on the fourth toe. The paper also details an inflated nostril rim formed by raised nasal scales.
Where it lives and why that matters
The large-spotted gecko sticks to rock. In the words of the study, it is “strictly rock-dwelling, always found on large, flattened granite boulders, where it can run rapidly to escape,” wrote Lobón-Rovira.
Its preferred microhabitat includes exfoliating flakes that offer quick cover.
Rock dependence is not just a quirk of lifestyle. For Namib day geckos, both running ability and foot structure shift with the terrain and habitat, tying their movements and body form to the rock surfaces they use.
What “day gecko” really means here
Rhoptropus species are active by daylight and many are rupicolous, meaning rock-dwelling. They bask, forage, and flee in open sun, which shapes when they move and how they avoid predators.
Daytime activity also makes their camouflage striking. The large-spotted gecko’s gray to brown base tone, orange reticulation on the head, and prominent dorsal spots break up its outline against granite.
Genetic fingerprint without the jargon
To separate look-alike species, the authors analyzed mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. Among the mitochondrial markers, ND2 is a widely used gene that tracks variation accumulated over time.
The large-spotted gecko showed pairwise distances from relatives at or above the threshold typical for distinct species in this group. The nuclear marker RAG-1 told the same story by forming its own cluster without shared alleles.
Two companions in the same area
Rhoptropus minimus is, as the name telegraphs, small for the genus. It has a granitic, speckled dorsum, four precloacal pores in two groups in males, and a stout build that sets it apart from the slender, ground-running R. biporosus.
Rhoptropus crypticus occupies steep, rocky faces in the northern Namibe coastal belt, often near the large-spotted species but with a different tail-scale configuration and a distinct pattern.
It carries more precloacal pores in males than R. biporosus and sports black dorsal markings absent from the highland relatives.
Museum work matters
Specimens from these surveys now reside in collections in Luanda, Porto, and Madrid. That matters because names only stick when types are preserved, measured, and made available for re-examination.
Vouchers anchor species concepts in verifiable material. They allow future teams to revisit identifications, recalibrate measurements, and, if needed, sample DNA again as methods improve.
The coastal Namibe region and adjacent escarpment create a patchwork of microhabitats in a relatively short horizontal span. Dry riverbeds cut across boulder fields, while inselbergs and gravel plains add complexity.
That mosaic fosters endemic lineages, species that occur in just one place. It also creates opportunities for closely related species to live near one another without directly competing for the same rock faces or crevices.
More than a gecko name game
The conveyor belt of finds continues. In 2025, a separate team described another Namib day gecko, Rhoptropus nivimontanus, from the Serra da Neve inselberg in the Namibe province using an integrative approach that combined color pattern, morphology, and DNA.
Taken together, these advances point to southwestern Angola as a center of diversification for small reptiles that specialize on stone surfaces. They also highlight the power of coordinated fieldwork, museum partnerships, and genetic analysis.
Naming species is not academic bookkeeping. It clarifies conservation responsibility, especially when a species occupies a narrow range and hugs a specific substrate.
When a lizard runs only on certain granites or relies on exfoliating flakes for shelter, quarrying, roadwork, or unregulated tourism can wipe out local populations. Clear names help agencies and communities plan around those needs.
Next steps for these new gecko species
Expect more work on the boundaries among similar Rhoptropus lineages, especially where coastal and upland forms meet.
Expect refined maps of who lives on which rocks and why certain boulders host two species while others host one.
And expect further surprises as teams revisit older records with DNA in hand. Angola’s rocks have more stories to tell, and for day geckos, the details sit in plain daylight.
The study is published in Ecology and Evolution.
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