Reptiles are a class of vertebrate animals whose living forms include the crocodiles, turtles, snakes, lizards, and the lizard-like tuatara, found only in New Zealand. Apart from the tuatara, the reptile fauna of New Zealand consists of two kinds of lizards –geckos and skinks. Occasionally large marine turtles and sea snakes are recorded from New Zealand shores as strays from warmer northern waters. New Zealand has no terrestrial snakes and their importation for any purpose is forbidden.

New Zealand's lizards include only two families of the more than 20 known in the world. Both the geckos (Gekkonidae) and the skinks (Scincidae) are widely distributed families, but the New Zealand native geckos are the only members of this family to give birth to live young. All other geckos lay eggs.

Geckos are small, with a soft loose skin which is dull and granular in appearance. The pupil of the eye appears as a vertical slit in bright light, but in darkness it becomes large and round. Rough plates or lamellae on the underside of the fingers and toes enable the animal to climb smooth surfaces, even glass.

Geckos are nocturnal. The green gecko (Naultinus elegans) is an exception, for it shelters in foliage during the day, but other species emerge from their daytime hiding places only at dusk. Hoplodactylus pacificus, frequently found on shingle beaches, is probably the most commonly encountered New Zealand gecko. Duvaucel's gecko (Hoplodactylus duvauceli) which can attain 10 in. in length, is the largest species and is restricted to some of the islands in Cook Strait and to others off the northern coast of the North Island. The species of the genus Heteropholis found in the South Island are among the most beautiful members of the family.

Skinks are active, rapidly moving lizards which have a surface covering of shiny overlapping scales, smooth and glossy to touch. Skinks are distinguished by a slender head, neck, and body, and by long slender fingers and toes which lack the toe pads of geckos. They move about with amazing speed in hot weather, feeding and basking in the sun by day and retiring to shelter at night. The common skink, Leiolopisma zelandica, has a wide distribution and can easily be found on stony beaches.

Nine species of indigenous geckos and 18 species of skinks have been identified in New Zealand. Lizards sometimes come in with foreign cargoes, but none of these is known to have become established.