Taxonomy
Common name :
Le scinque de litière de montagne
Red List Status -
Vulnerable (VU) , assessed in 11/12/2017Protected species -
in Southern Province , in Northern Province
This species is listed as Vulnerable because the known subpopulations are isolated and show substructuring that indicates they need to be treated as separate management units, giving an estimation of six locations. Furthermore, those on the ultramafic massifs (e.g. Koniambo) have been fragmented and localized by habitat loss and are under constant threat from nickel mining. All threatening processes are ongoing.
Geographical area
This species is endemic to New Caledonia. It is known from two widely disjunct groups of subpopulations (>100 km apart) on Grande Terre, in the north the species occurs on the Panié massif and massif Koniambo, and in the south on several mountain tops from Mé Adéo near Bourail to Thio. The extent of occurrence is estimated at 5,628 km2 and the area of occupancy at 60 km2.
Population
There are no quantitative data on population size and trends for this species. It is presumed to have suffered a limited reduction in population size and extent in the past from habitat loss and degradation associated with mining on ultramafic massifs and wildfires in maquis shrublands. Caledoniscincus orestes is still locally abundant at some locations.
Habitat
This species inhabits mid-elevation closed forest (>500 m), montane forest and high-elevation maquis. It is diurnal, terrestrial and is active in sunlight. It shelters beneath litter and stones, and basks and forages in sunlit-patches.
Threats
The greatest threats to this species are the predation from feral cats (Palmas 2017) and the habitat loss and degradation from deer, pigs and from the expansion of the nickel mining industry on the Koniambo massif.
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 present in the Réserve de Nature Sauvage du Mt Panié and in Parc des Grande Fougères. No conservation management is currently being undertaken but this species may potentially benefit from proposed predator control in the La Guen catchment on Mt Panié.
Bibliography
Bauer, A.M. and Sadlier, R.A. 2000. The Herpetofauna of New Caledonia.
IUCN 2021. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021-2.
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.
Uetz, P. (ed.) 2017. The Reptile Database.
Sadlier, R.A., O’Meally, D. and Bauer, A.M. 2002. The scincid lizard genus Caledoniscincus (Reptilia: Scincidae) from New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific: a review of Caledoniscincus orestes Sadlier.. Zoologia Neocaledonica 5, Mémoires du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle(187) , p.257–267.
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.
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.
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): Warimavute, G., Lietar, J., Tanguy, V.