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Rates of biodiversity loss are accelerating as life on Earth enters a human-caused mass extinction event unparalleled in tens of millions of years. However, some species benefit from human influence. Several reptile species have been introduced and become established in Greater Melbourne and Geelong. There is debate about whether the Marbled Gecko 'Christinus marmoratus', now common throughout Melbourne and spreading into several rural areas outside of its natural range, occurred in the area now occupied by Greater Melbourne at the time European people arrived in Victoria. We use museum and wildlife atlas records, literature from the 19th and 20th centuries, and conversations with colleagues who have relevant insights (including career overlap with museum staff from early in the 20th century), to argue that the Marbled Gecko's occupation of Greater Melbourne and Geelong occurred after the …