Scawfell Island is a mountain protruding from the ocean about 50 kilometres off the Mackay Coast.
Conrad Hoskins went there hoping to make a discovery.
"I went to that island in the hopes of finding some interesting reptile species ... one thing I really hoped for was that there could be one of these incredible leaf-tailed geckos," he said.
Leaf-tailed geckos are an "ancient group of Australian geckos", once widespread, but constrained as rainforest contacted to mountainous areas, becoming many "unique little species".
"I thought, well, perhaps if the rainforest is persisted on this island, maybe leaf tailed geckos have managed to survive," Dr Hoskin said.
When he got to the rugged island with two students from James Cook University, he found "perfect habitat" for the geckos.
"When night time came, we quickly found quite a lot of these leaf tail geckos," he said.
"They were obviously a new species. It was super exciting to come across something in the wild when it's clearly and immediately obvious that it's something new."
Dr Hoskin said the gecko, now known as Phyllurus fimbriatus — the Scawfell Island leaf-tailed gecko — is up to 15 centimetres in length, much larger than any gecko you are likely to see around your house.
"It's about twice the size of those house geckos, and about three times the bulk," he said.
"They're big, they're quite prickly. They've got this lovely, beaky, almost dragon like face and really, really long spiderery, spindly legs."
Dr Hoskin said the geckos were plentiful in two rocky gullies surrounded by rainforest on the island, less than a square kilometre in size.
"I'm pretty certain this gecko is entirely restricted to this island," he said.
"We surveyed one of the islands nearby and didn't get them, so they'll almost certainly be restricted to this island."
Islands worth exploring
Dr Hoskin said the group will head back to Scawfell Island later this year to explore and try to get a better gauge on the leaf-tailed gecko population.
Dr Hoskin said the islands scattered along the Queensland coast often have lots of dry foliage and are known for burning, which could pose a risk for the geckos.
"The knowledge we need is to know where the geckos are across the island, and what sort of numbers. Then we can work together to find ways to manage what happens on those islands to look after the geckos."
The coast is scattered with islands, some of which have had "general surveys", but Dr Hoskin says more needs to be done to understand their ecological value.
"There needs to be more targeted surveys around certain types of plants and animals, to find rare and unusual and localised things," he said.
As for Scawfell Island, Dr Hoskin said the discovery of the leaf-tailed gecko will ensure it gets more attention.
"Everyone's taking a bigger interest in these islands," he said.
"There's a really good looking big unknown gecko there, there may be other interesting things. So, the island definitely deserves, and will get more survey attention."
