Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[negri]

in many care sheets the intro text is this

[ArranP]

I presumed habitat reduction and the introduction of the fire ants that destroy almost everything in there way.

[PaulG]

I read about some sort of introduced species of ant is/was taking over. .
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Regards, Paul.

:.Rhacodactylus.:.Eublepharis.:.Stenodactylus.:.Nephrurus.:

[Terry-rhac.cil]

they were extinct from 1866 - 1994 or thats what i read anyways lol

[zarozinia]

Apparently cresties were first described in 1866, but I cannot find anything in my books regarding the last sightings.
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Cheers Angi
Proud to be a Geordie!
My Images - http://anginelson.deviantart.com/

[davo]

I think ants have become a problem for some of the island local leachies too if I remember right.

[zarozinia]

Heres a bit I wrote about New Caledonia which explains a bit about the problems affecting habitats.

New Caledonia is a group of islands located in the south west Pacific ocean, approximately 1,200 km east of Queensland, Australia. It consists of one main island called Grande Terre and several smaller islands. GrandeTerre was once a part of the ancient southern supercontinent Gondwana (originally Gondwanaland) which included most of the landmasses in today’s southern hemisphere, including Antarctica, South America, Africa, Madagascar, Australia-New Guinea, and New Zealand, as well as Arabia and the Indian subcontinent, which are in the Northern Hemisphere. It is thought that Grande Terre has been isolated from other landmasses in excess of 55 million years. The other smaller islands that make up New Caledonia are much more recent, being volcanic.

Grande Terre is the only one of the islands with terrain above 1,500 metres and boasts a chain of 5 mountain peaks. It has an extremely diverse soil substrate which is thought to be one of the factors leading to its diverse plant life. Whereas the other islands consist largely of limestone substrates as a result of volcanic uplifting of corals when the islands were formed.(Mueller-Dombois 1998).
The humid tropical forests are generally subdivided into lowland rainforests of the Loyalty islands and Grande Terre, the montane forests of Grande Terre, and Grande Terres wet maquis forest, with the rainfall differing between areas and seasons. The loyalty islands average rainfall is around 1,500mm, Grande Terre has average rainfalls of approximately 2,000mm in the lower elevations and between 2,000 and 4,000mm at higher elevations. The western side of Grande Terre is apparently much drier with less rainfall.

Threats to New Caledonia’s diverse eco-system

New Caledonia has suffered terrible losses in the way of native habitat, which is having an effect on the wildlife. Two of the main factors in this are mining and deforestation. New Caledonia is rich in Nickel and produces about half of the worlds Nickel. Hence it has had a dramatic impact on the landscape of the islands, causing terrible soil erosion. Although mining in the area is now declining. The rain forests have also been decimated in New Caledonia, resulting in forests that once covered 70% of the islands, now only covering 21% of the land. There are protected areas which cover little of the land, making up only 2,8% of total land cover. But at least there are some parks attempting to protect the islands diversity.
Other threats to native species on the islands include hunting, collection for the pet trade and the introduction of non native species such as pigs, goats, cats, dogs and rats. New Caledonia also has Java deer which are widely hunted. The deer not only present problems by trampling and grazing the understory, but people start fires to attract deer to new growth that follows. As expected, many of the native species do not thrive in conditions where there are frequent fires, whilst some of the non native species appear to manage to flourish easier in these conditions. Another non native species which is severely affecting native lizards and invertebrate numbers and diversity is the Neotropical ant. Then there is the carnivorous snail, Euglandina rosea, which is decimating the islands unique snails.
The regions flora and fauna is under severe threat and whilst there are new species being discovered and rediscovered ( often after being presumed extinct), action needs to be taken to preserve what remains in this richly diverse area. Many plants and animals are endemic and can be found nowhere else on the planet, this includes 80% of the islands lizards.
Where responsibility for biodiversity conservation lies is not immediately apparent, the French government is solely responsible for international relations (including conventions and treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity), whilst natural resource management lies exclusively with the provincial governments. Because of this divided responsibility, French Government has not regarded New Caledonia as a high priority for action, although it is currently developing a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan in which New Caledonia is considered as a top priority.

Reptiles on New Caledonia

The islands are home to three species of snakes ( none of which live on Grande Terre) and sixty-eight lizards ( sixty which are endemic). The native terrestrial snakes include a blind burrowing species (Ramphotyphlops willeyi) of the family Typhlopidae and the Pacific boa (Candoia bibroni), both restricted to the Loyalty Islands.
The lizards are from 3 families: geckos (Gekkonidae and Diplodactylidae) and skinks (Scincidae.) Probably the best known of the lizards in New Caledonia are the Rhacodactylus family, which includes Rhacodactylus leachianus, which is the largest gecko in the world and can grow up to 28cms long and weigh up to 700grams. Also, becoming an extremely popular pet now is the Crested gecko, Rhacodactylus ciliatus, which was thought to be extinct until rediscovered in 1994.
Phoboscincus bocourti, is a lizard which was not seen since 1870 and was presumed extinct. This lizard, which can grow up to 50cms long, was rediscovered on a tiny island within New Caledonia in 2003.
No native amphibians have been discovered on the islands up to now.
The marine area surrounding the islands at least 14 sea snakes and three sea turtles.
Most New Caledonian reptiles exhibit patterns of micro-endemism and are restricted to small geographic ranges.












Further reading
Ross Sadlier and Aaron Bauer have contributed greatly to the research into New Caledonia’s reptile species and have published a book on the herpetofauna of New Caledonia.
Bauer A.M. and Sadlier R.A. 2000. The Herpetofauna of New Caledonia. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. New York, USA

More can be read about systematics, field research and conservation of New Caledonian reptiles on the Australian Museum website:-
http://austmus.gov.au/herpetology/index.htm
References
http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/aa/aa0113_full.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondwana
http://www.oneworldwildlife.org/newcaledonia.html
http://austmus.gov.au/herpetology/research/new_cal_intro.htm
http://www.biodiversityscience.org/publications/hotspots/NewCaledonia.html
http://www.amonline.net.au/herpetology/research/new_cal_lizards.pdf
http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots/new_caledonia/biodiversity.xml

Angela Nelson
_________________
Cheers Angi
Proud to be a Geordie!
My Images - http://anginelson.deviantart.com/

[negri]

excellent post zarozinia


thanks for that
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