Crested geckos, cresties, eyelash geckos are a member of the Diplodactylidae family. The Diplodactylidae are a family in the suborder Gekkota, with over 150 species in 25 genera. These geckos occur in Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia.

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The crested gecko was officially discovered in New Caledonia, a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, by Alphone Guichenot in 1866. Originally classified as “Correlophus ciliatus“, it was later grouped within the genus Rhacodactylus, comprising the other “giant” geckos in New Caledonia. It was long thought to be extinct, prior to their “rediscovery” by science in 1994. Recent pyhlogenetic studies by Aaron Bauer have indicated that crested geckos are not as closely related as the other Rhacodactylus species. The genus Correlophus was reinstated for R. cilliatus, along with sister species C. sarasinorum and a proposed new species C. belepensis, which is considered critically endangered. It’s not certain if the current captive population in the US and Europe consists all pure ciliatus or integrades between the two. 

-Moon valley Reptiles