Endemic to India’s Eastern Ghats, Jeypore ground gecko (Cyrtodactylus jeyporensis), an enigmatic nocturnal lizard, is on the extinction path due to deforestation, mining, rapid urbanization and forest fires coupled with huge pet trade demand fuelled by booming social media amongst reptile breeders and
keepers.
India has now sought its inclusion in the Appendix II species of the Convention on International Trade In Endangered Species of Wild Fauna And Flora (CITES) to be held in November in Panama.
Enlisted Appendix II species means they are not necessarily threatened with extinction but could become so if their trade is not regulated.
The proposal is likely to be taken up at the nineteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties CoP Panama City (Republic of Panama) to be held mid-November.
India, in its document submitted to the Convention, that on the basis of available trade data and information on the status and trends of the wild population, it can be inferred that the regulation of trade in the species is necessary to avoid it becoming eligible for inclusion in Appendix I in the near future.
Once thought to be extinct and then discovered again in 2010, C. jeyporensis is endemic to Eastern Ghats of India and has been recorded from very few localities in southern Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh. The species is listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List.
India expressed concerns that C. jeyporensis is or may be affected by trade because it is an attractive species and could become the target of commercial collection. “The species is handsome looking and docile, which makes it vulnerable for the pet trade and there appears to be demand for it amongst reptile breeders and keepers outside India.
Live specimens of the species are in trade outside India as evidenced by advertisements on social media”, as per the document. To corroborate its apprehension, the Government has attached annexures giving proof of details of the sale offers of the lizard on Facebook and Instagram.
Due to the restricted area of occurrence of the species, the ongoing decline in the species’ population and continued threats to the species, any collection of the species for the international pet trade is very likely to have a detrimental impact on its status.
“While the species may actually qualify for inclusion in CITES Appendix I, an Appendix II CITES listing as a start would provide regulation of international trade in the species and penalties for breach thereof, thereby helping to control illegal export of the species from India; and generate trade data regarding international trade and demand for the species.
Surveys indicate that the population of the species may be declining at a fast rate. In the Galikonda and Aaraku valleys, Andhra Pradesh, the population spotted by a team of researchers from IISc was revisited by a team of scientists and research scholars of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in 2021, which resulted in no observation during the same month in October.
Similarly, Paderu hill, where this species was found in good numbers (6 individuals) during a survey conducted by IISc team, was revisited by the ZSI team in October 2021 and only one individual was observed, said the
document.