A new species of gecko in the genus Lepidodactylus is described from Port Moresby, and a key to the members of the genus from the island of New Guinea presented. Variation in the little known species Lepidodactylus orientalis is outlined and observations on the ecology of geckoes from the Port Moresby region are discussed. In their review of the genus Lepidodactylus from the Indo-Australian archipelago, Brown and Parker (1977) recognized thirteen species, of which five were, at that time, known from the mainland of New Guinea. Following Russell (1972), these authors divided the known species in this genus into three groups of supposed increasing evolutionary specialization, with group I containing seven species having undivided subdigital scansors; group II containing five species with some subdigital scansors divided into two parallel rows and group III containing the single complex, Lepidodactylus lugubris/woodfordi, members of which have both the terminal and some subterminal scansors divided. This latter complex is widely distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region, including the mainland of New Guinea. The other four species known from the mainland of New Guinea are: Lepidodactylus novaeguineae of group II, occurring along the north coast of Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea; and three group I species, namely L. magnus known from several localities in the central mountain range, L. pumilus of the Torres Straits Islands and the Western Province of Papua New Guinea, and L. orientalis known only from the Port Moresby area of the Central Province of Papua New Guinea. The remaining named species in the genus all have ranges restricted to single islands or island groups in the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asian region and the Pacific. Included are eight from the Indo-Australian region and the Pacific Basin (Brown and Parker, 1977) and four from the Philippines (Brown and Alcala, 1978). The only published information on L. orientalis appears to be the original description in Brown and Parker (1977), based upon four specimens. During the course of herpetological investigations in the Port Moresby region some 33 adult specimens of L. orientalis were obtained together with data on the distribution, egg and hatchling dimensions and the ecology of the species. In addition 43 specimens of a hitherto undescribed species in the genus were collected from mangrove swamps fringing the Bootless Inlet and Motupore Island to the east of Port Moresby. We take pleasure in naming the latter species for W. C. Brown in recognition of his many contributions to herpetology in the Pacific region. LEPIDODACTYLUS BROWNI, NEW SPECIES Fig. 1-4 Holotype.-University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) 6355, a mature male, Bogoro Inlet, Bootless Bay, Central Province, Papua New Guinea, J. C. Pernetta and D. Black, 9 May 1981. Paratypes.-A series collected with the holotype: UPNG 6353-6372; Papua New Guinea National Museum (PNGNM) 17287-17290; Australian Museum R. 105403-R. 105408; California Academy of Sciences 15473-15478: Dogura Inlet, BootThis content downloaded from 157.55.39.112 on Wed, 29 Jun 2016 06:06:36 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms J. C. PERNETTA AND D. BLACK