Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2006L03939:body:0:p2
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2006L03939
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 4416–7261

Lister's Gecko, Lepidodactylus listeri, and the Christmas Island Blind Snake, Typhlops exocoeti, are reptile species endemic to Christmas Island. Both are currently listed as Vulnerable (T. exocoeti as Ramphotyphlops exocoeti) under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999 (EPBC Act). They are also listed as Vulnerable by IUCN (IUCN 2004). However the current conservation status of both is effectively unknown; Lister's Gecko was last seen in 1987, and the last blind snake record was made in 1986.

James (2004) has recorded significant declines in other, previously common endemic Christmas Island reptiles since the last targeted reptile survey in 1998 (Cogger & Sadlier, 2000). These declines, in relation to the range and relative abundance recorded in the first targeted reptile survey conducted in 1979, can only be termed "catastrophic". Consequently this Recovery Plan has been constructed within a context of no recent sightings of either threatened species but a clear record of substantial recent declines of other endemic reptiles on Christmas Island. There is a possibility that one or both of these species is now extinct.

A number of actions are identified that are needed to secure any remaining populations, including investigation of the potential threats to the species and to the integrity of the habitats in which they have been found in the past. The primary action required is to determine, through survey and monitoring, the presence, location and status of any remaining populations.

Distribution and Ecology

Lister's Gecko is a small (average snout-vent length ca. 50 mm) arboreal species found active on tree trunks at night or sheltering in the day under bark of living or dead trees (Gibson-Hill, 1947).

The Christmas Island Blind Snake is a fossorial snake found in the sub-surface soil and surface litter of the forest floor and almost certainly, like most of its congeners, preying on the eggs, larvae and pupae of ants and termites that it devours in large numbers. It is usually active on the surface only at night.

The two species occur only on Christmas Island. All provenanced records are shown in Figures 1 and 2 below.

Habitat Critical to Survival

Lister's Gecko: The only records for which habitat information is available (rather than inferred) were made in 1938-1940 (Gibson-Hill, 1947) and 1979 (Cogger and Sadlier, 1981; Cogger et al., 1983). These observations indicated that at the time these papers were written the gecko was:
    * most abundant in primary forest on the plateau, but that within this area it will readily adapt to disturbed habitats and secondary growth that includes at least some mature trees;
    * least abundant on the terraces sampled on the north-eastern, eastern and southern sides of the island;
    * apparently absent from all mined areas even