Rare Gecko Species Last Seen 30 Years Ago Rediscovered

Photo Credit: Endangered Wildlife Trust

A rare gecko species last seen more than three decades ago has been rediscovered at a remote site in the Blyde River Canyon!

Mpumalanga, South Africa (20 May 2025) — A rare gecko species has been rediscovered as of this year; solidifying its first recordings in over three decades.

The Blyde River Flat Gecko (Afroedura rondavelica) was first discovered in 1991 by Dr Niels Jacobsen who collected two specimens. However, for the next 33 years, these would be the only Blyde River Flat Geckos ever knowingly recorded; not least collected.

As the Endangered Wildlife Trust explain, the Flat Gecko is known for its micro-endemism (the species only occurs in one single locality or a handful). As such, the Blyde River Flat Gecko proved to be evasive, given the hard-to-access area it calls home.

Concern arose that the species had become a ‘lost species’ as it hadn’t been recorded for more than a decade.

“The general lack of information regarding the species, taxonomic uncertainty surrounding it, and the possibility that it may have gone extinct, resulted in this species being listed as Data Deficient in the latest IUCN Red List of Threatened Species assessment,” share the EWT team.

But, this all changed last month when EWT researchers Dr Darren Pietersen and John Davis finally got the go-ahead to visit the area.

It took the researchers two years to get the necessary permits. Once they did, they were flown to the site by helicopter and pilot Jana Meyer of Hope for Wildlife.

“They confirmed not only that the species had survived, but also the morphological, and therefore taxonomic, distinctness of the species,” the team shared.

Thanks to the findings and the data collected, the species can now be re-evaluated in terms of its threat status and consequentially, necessary conservation action.

This is the fourth ‘lost species’ that the EWT has rediscovered.

Meanwhile, in other rediscovery news, for the first time in 46 years, the Western Cape’s most mysterious mammal (the elusive Boosmansbos long-tailed forest shrew) has been recorded! More on this, here.