Taxonomie



Statut liste rouge -
Vulnérable (VU) , évaluée le 11/12/2017Espèce protégée -
en Province Sud , en Province NordDescription
Répartition
Mont Humboldt
Habitat
Maquis dense, lisière de forêt de mousse
Sigaloseps balios is listed as Vulnerable (D2) because of its extremely restricted distribution. Its area of occupancy being estimated to 4 km2, the potential impact of invasive species may provoke in the future a rapid decline in the quality of habitat.

Aire géographique
Sigaloseps balios is endemic to Province Sud in New Caledonia. It is known only from high-elevation habitat on the summit area of Mt Humboldt in the interior ranges of southern Grande Terre. The extent of occurrence (EOO) and the area of occupancy (AOO) are estimated at 4 km2.
Population
There is no information on population size or trends.
Habitat
The holotype was collected from dense, low maquis shrubland adjacent to high-elevation humid forest and the paratypes from just inside high-elevation moss forest at its upper altitudinal limit. However, it is important to note that the species was not encountered in the interior of the moss forest despite extensive sampling under optimal conditions over an altitudinal range of 1,250–1,390 m.
Menaces
Although this species does not seem directly threatened, the main plausible threats to Sigaloseps balios may come in the future from the predation pressures by the introduced mammals such as feral pigs, feral cats (Palmas, 2017) and rodents (Thibault 2017).
Conservation
Espèce protégée règlementairement. Espèce présente dans 1 réserve(s) : Mont Humboldt
Bibliographie
Sadlier, R.A, Bauer, Wood Jr., P.L., Smith, S.A., Whitaker, A.H., Jourdan, H. and Jackman, T.R. 2014. Localized endemism in the southern ultramafic bio-region of New Caledonia as evidenced by the lizards in the genus Sigaloseps (Reptilia: Scincidae), with descriptions of four new species. Memoires du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle(206) , p.79-113.
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.
Sadlier, R.A, Bauer, Wood Jr., P.L., Smith, S.A., Whitaker, A.H., Jourdan, H. and Jackman, T.R. 2014. Localized endemism in the southern ultramafic bio-region of New Caledonia as evidenced by the lizards in the genus Sigaloseps (Reptilia: Scincidae), with descriptions of four new species. Memoires du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle(206) , p.79-113.
Jourdan, H., Brescia, F. and Vidal, E. 2014. Programme R_Mines.Impact des espèces invasives sur les communautés de reptiles des massifs miniers.
IUCN 2021. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021-2.
Uetz, P. (ed.) 2017. The Reptile Database.
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.
Endemia.nc 2016. Faune et Flore de Nouvelle-Calédonie.
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): Lietar, J., Warimavute, G., Tanguy, V.