Taxonomy
Red List Status -
Endangered (EN) , assessed in 11/12/2017Protected species -
in Southern Province , in Northern Province
Bavayia nubila is listed as Endangered (criteria B1ab(ii,iii,v)+2ab(ii,iii,v)) because it is restricted to two locations in New Caledonia and there is a continuing decline in the area of occupancy (AOO), extent and quality of habitat and the number of mature individuals due to a variety of threats.
Geographical area
Bavayia nubila is endemic to Province Sud in New Caledonia. It is known in two localities on Monts Dzumac and Mont Vulcain. It occurs at elevations between 500 and 1,000 m. The extent of occurrence (EOO) is estimated at 17 and the area of occupancy (AOO) at 12 km².
Population
There is no information on population size or trends. It is presumed that development of a large nickel mine in the area has caused further habitat loss and led to a decline in the number of mature individuals, as well as fragmentation of the populations.
Habitat
This species is restricted to the interior of the southern ultramafic ranges where it was observed on the edge and inside a patch of close forest in two sites in the drainage of the Tontouta valley.
Threats
The major threats to Bavayia nubila are the rapidly expanding nickel industry on the Mont Vulcain and wildfires on all localities. Other threats are the predation pressure from feral cats (Palmas 2017) and rodents (Thibault 2017).
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). This species is not present in any reserve and no species-specific conservation management is currently being undertaken.
Bibliography
Bauer, A.M., Jackman, T.R., Sadlier, R.A. and Whitaker, A.H. 2012. Revision of the giant geckos of New Caledonia (Reptilia: Diplodactylidae: Rhacodactylus). Zootaxa(3404) , p.1–52.
Hély-Alleaume 2012. INC : Incendies et biodiversité des éco-systèmes en Nouvelle-Calédonie.
Jourdan, H., Brescia, F. and Vidal, E. 2014. Programme R_Mines.Impact des espèces invasives sur les communautés de reptiles des massifs miniers.
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.
Bauer, A.M., Sadlier, R.A., Jackman, T.R. and Shea, G. 2012. A new member of the Bavayia cyclura species group (Reptilia: Squamata: Diplodactylidae) from the southern ranges of New Caledonia. Pacific Science(66) , p.239-247.
L'Huillier L.; Jaffré T. and Wulff A. 2010. Mines et Environnement en Nouvelle-Calédonie : les milieux sur substrats ultramafiques et leur restauration.
IUCN 2021. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021-2.
Uetz, P. (ed.) 2017. The Reptile Database.
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): Cassan, J., Butin, J., Fleurot, D., Jumel, M.
Facilitator(s): Warimavute, G., Tanguy, V., Lietar, J.