Editing Naultinus (section)

==Distribution and habitat==
The nine described species of ''Naultinus'' are found throughout the North and South islands of New Zealand and on a number of offshore islands. Historically, ''Naultinus'' species lived throughout the length of New Zealand, from the coast to as much as 1400 metres above sea level. However, all species have now undergone massive declines, and populations nationwide are fragmented and few ''(see "[[#Conservation|Conservation]]")'' Four species; ''elegans'', ''grayii'', ''flavirictus'' and ''punctatus'' are found only in the [[North Island]].<ref name="Gill, Whitaker">Brian Gill and Tony Whitaker, ''New Zealand Frogs and Reptiles'', David Bateman Pubg., 1996</ref> What was previously thought to be a distinct population of ''grayii'', found only in the far north on the [[Aupōuri Peninsula]] has been determined from genetic work in the early 2000s to be a new species, more closely related, in fact, to ''elegans''.<ref name="Jewell, Morris" /> It was described as ''[[N. flavirictus]]'' in 2021. The remaining five species:  ''gemmeus'', ''manukanus'', ''rudis'', ''stellatus'', and ''tuberculatus'' are found only in the [[South Island]].<ref name="Gill, Whitaker" /> South Island ''Naultinus'' were, in the past, placed in a separate genus called ''Heteropholis'' but this taxon was abandoned when new genetic research in the 1980s showed little phylogenetic basis for this taxonomic division.<ref name="Robb">Joan Robb, ''New Zealand Amphibians and Reptiles'', Collins, 1980</ref>

None of the ''Naultinus'' gecko populations are [[sympatric]], presumably because each species is finely adapted to its local environment and also because their respective [[ecological niche]]s are incredibly similar.<ref name="RH">Rob Hitchmough- Threatened species science section, DOC, (August 2006)</ref>