Gialai Bent-toed GeckoCyrtodactylus gialaiensis

Conservation Actions

This species is not known from a protected area. Research is urgently required to study this species' distribution and population status, and to clarify both the impacts of identified threats and effective conservation actions that can be taken, as it is feared that the species may soon be lost without further research and appropriate remedial action (V. Luu pers. comm. 2017)

Location Information

This species is known only from a coffee farm near Chu Se Town in Gia Lai Province, in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam (Luu et al. 2017). The known specimens were all collected at 607 m asl. (Luu et al. 2017).

Geographic Range

Extant

Viet Nam

Population Information

The type series consists of five specimens: two adult males, an adult female, a subadult female and a juvenile, all taken in February 2017 (Luu et al. 2017). Individuals were also observed sheltering beneath leaf litter during the day (V. Luu pers. comm. 2018). No further specimens are known, despite two subsequent visits to the locality (V. Luu pers. comm. 2018).

Threats

The known locality lies in a coffee farm, and Google Map images suggest there is no good forest in the surrounding area (V. Luu pers. comm. 2018). Although the presence of juveniles and subadults in the type series indicates that a breeding population of this species can survive in this habitat, it is unknown whether this population is viable in the long term. Forest conversion for agriculture and clearance (through burning or collection) of leaf litter are considered threats to this species, and some of the coffee farms in this area are being converted to pepper cultivation (V. Luu pers. comm. 2018). Irrigation practices on the farm flood the species' habitat several times a week (every 4-6 days) in the dry season (V. Luu pers. comm. 2018), further reducing the availability of suitable diurnal shelter sites. On a recent (January 2018) visit, V. Luu (pers. comm. 2018) observed that local people raise chickens around the coffee farm, and he suggests that the birds may prey on the geckos.

IUCN Red List Account Link

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