Taxonomie
Nom vernaculaire :
Scinque à queue en fouet d'Aubrey
Aubrey's Whiptailed Skink Statut liste rouge -
Vulnérable (VU) , évaluée le 11/12/2017Espèce protégée -
en Province Sud , en Province Nord
Tropidoscincus aubrianus is listed as Vulnerable because it has a restricted range, is found at fewer than ten locations and there is continuing decline in the extent and quality of its habitat. This species has been rarely observed on Grande Terre for more than 30 years. With all known sites below 300 m, it is expected that it has suffered from extensive habitat loss and it remains at risk to all threatening processes.
Aire géographique
This species is endemic to New Caledonia. It is known from five widely scattered locations on Grande Terre (between Pouébo in the north and La Foa in the south), and from Ile des Pins. It occurs at elevations up to 300 m. There has been few recent observations on Grande Terre, so it is presumed to have undergone substantial reduction. The extent of occurrence is estimated at 7,389 km2 and the area of occupancy at 32 km2.
Population
There is no information on population size and trends for Tropidoscincus aubrianus. It has unquestionably undergone a reduction in the area of occupancy as a result of past clearance of lowland forest and shrubland habitats for agriculture and from widespread wildfires, and this may have resulted in fragmentation of the population.
Habitat
This species occurs in supralittoral vegetation, and lowland woodlands and savanna. On Ile des Pins it has been observed in maquis shrubland. It is diurnal, terrestrial and is active in sunlight. It shelters beneath logs and rocks, and rock crevices; forages in stick litter or in sunlit patches on the forest floor.
Menaces
This species may be at risk to further loss or degradation of woodland habitat through clearance for agriculture and gardening, and damage from wildfires. Livestock and introduced ungulates (deer and pigs) are likely to degrade habitat quality. The species is also expected to be at particular risk to the invasive ant, Wasmannia auropunctata (Jourdan et al. 2000, 2001). Predation by introduced mammals such as rodents (Thibault 2017) and cats (Palmas 2017) is potentially an issue.
Conservation
This species is protected in Province Nord under Code de l'environnement de la Province Nord (Délibération No. 306-2008/APN, 24 October 2008) and in Province Sud under Code de l'environnement de la Province Sud (Délibération No. 25-2009/APS, 20 March 2009). It is not present in any reserves and no conservation management is currently being undertaken.
Bibliographie
Bauer, A.M. and Sadlier, R.A. 2000. The Herpetofauna of New Caledonia.
Uetz, P. (ed.) 2017. The Reptile Database.
IUCN 2021. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021-2.
Jourdan, H., Sadlier, R.A. and Bauer, A.M. 2000. Premières observations sur les conséquences de l’invasion de Wasmannia auropunctata 1863 (Roger) sur les prédateurs supérieurs dans les écosystèmes Néo-calédoniens. Actes des collectes insectes sociaux(13) , p.121-126.
Jourdan, H., Sadlier, R.A. and Bauer, A.M. 2001. Little Fire Ant Invasion (Wasmannia auropunctata) as a threat to New Caledonian lizards: Evidences from a sclerophyll forest (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology(38) , p.283-301.
Thibault, M., Brescia, F., Vidal, E. and Jourdan, H. 2017. Invasive rodents, an overlooked threat for skinks in a tropical island hotspot of biodiversity. New Zealand Ecological Society(41) , p.74-83.
Palmas, P., Jourdan, H., Rigault, F., Debar, L., De Meringo, H., Bourguet, E., Mathivet, M., Lee, M., Adjouhgniope, R., Papillon, Y. and Bonnaud, E. 2017. Feral cats threaten the outstanding endemic fauna of the New Caledonia biodiversity hotspot. Biological Conservation(214) , p.250-259.
Experts
Assessor(s): Sadlier, R., Bauer, A., Jourdan, H., Astrongatt, S., Deuss, M., Duval, T., Bourguet, E., McCoy, S., Bouteiller, A., Lagrange, A.
Reviewer(s): Cox, N.
Contributor(s): Whitaker, A.
Facilitator(s): Lietar, J., Warimavute, G., Tanguy, V.