Every issue of Oryx has a Conservation News section that, like the Briefly section for short news items, is very popular with the journal's subscribers. Conservation News reports material (< 6 months old) that has not been published elsewhere, and is a forum for conservation practitioners and researchers to provide updates and preliminary reports of topical research and conservation news. Items are generally < 700 words, do not prejudice future publication of more detailed reports or results elsewhere, and are subject to review by the Editor only. For more details see Submit other material. Here we provide drafts of some of the Conservation News items that will be published in the forthcoming issue. For the most recent published Conservation News section, see the latest issue.

Conserving the Critically Endangered greater bamboo lemur

The greater bamboo lemur Prolemur simus is the only recognized species in its genus. It is considered one of the most threatened primates and is probably the most threatened lemur. It is endemic to Madagascar and, although subfossil records show it was once widely distributed across the island, it is now believed to be restricted to a small part of the remaining eastern rainforest and a few outlying degraded forest fragments. In 2007 only 60 individuals were known in the wild and 22 in captivity (Primate Conservation, 23, 5–17).

In June 2009 an agreement was signed with the Malagasy government creating The Aspinall Foundation’s Madagascar Programme, with the mission to work with local partners for the  conservation of threatened species and their habitats. The initial focus of the programme has been to play a key role in ensuring that effective actions are implemented to assure the long-term persistence of the greater bamboo lemur. Several objectives were identified: facilitating  communication and collaboration, surveying for new sites supporting the species, ensuring effective conservation management of known sites in both the remaining forest corridors and in isolated habitats, and, when appropriate, ensuring the survival of individuals in sites that cannot be protected through translocation or captive breeding.

Progress so far has been in the surveying of new sites. Previous surveys, between 1986 and  2007, confirmed the presence of greater bamboo lemurs at only 11 of 70 sites surveyed (Primate Conservation, 23, 5–17). However, it appeared that large areas within the species' range had not been surveyed and therefore some of these were targeted for rapid collaborative surveys. The first was undertaken between November 2008 and May 2009 within the Fandriana-Vondrozo Corridor, the southern portion of the eastern rainforest belt, with GERP (the Madagascar Primate Group) and Centre ValBio. Only a single Prolemur feeding sign was found and there was one potential but unconfirmed sighting of the species.

In the second survey, undertaken between May and September 2009 in partnership with GERP, Conservation International and Association Mitsinjo (a local community-based conservation organization), evidence of greater bamboo lemurs was found at several sites in the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor, in the central region of the eastern rainforest. The success of this survey was probably due to the fact that many local communities there are organized into associations and have management responsibility for forests in this region, and thus community members most likely to have knowledge of bamboo lemurs could be targeted for information gathering in a way that was not feasible in the first survey. We would now like to search further north, to try to find the northern limit of the species’ range, and also in the region connecting the areas of the first two surveys, from where no Prolemur has yet been confirmed but from where we have convincing information from local people about their probable presence.

Although clearly we still have a lot to learn about the distribution and abundance of this species, the second survey has demonstrated that the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor can now be considered a priority area for the conservation of the species, in addition to the southern Fandriana-Vondrozo Corridor. Both Corridors are in the process of being established as protected areas for which local communities will take on an important management role. Various organizations are now developing strategies to ensure the conservation of the greater bamboo lemur within and around both Corridors.

Tony King and Christelle Chamberlan The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar Programme, BP 7170 Andravoahangy, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar. E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Rediscovery of the Taveuni blind snake

Much of the herpetofauna of the two main Fijian Islands (Viti Levu and Vanua Levu) has been decimated by human induced habitat modifications and the introduction of exotic predators. Cats, rats and mongooses are the major predators on terrestrial reptiles and those arboreal species frequently descending to the ground for feeding or movement. The mongoose is a major driver of extinction or near extinction. Its level of lizard predation is readily seen by contrasting the density of the ground-living white-bellied striped skink Emoia cyanura on Viti Levu (mongoose present) and Ovalau (mongoose free): < 5 individuals ha^-1versus > 1,300 individuals ha^-1, respectively. Of Fiji’s three native terrestrial snakes the elapid Ogmodon vitianus, occurs only on Viti Levu, and is strongly subterranean. The Pacific boa Candoia bibroni is moderately abundant on many mongoose-free islands and survives only at very low densities on islands with the mongoose, in well forested areas where presumably it is nearly fully arboreal.

The situation for the blind snake is enigmatic. The original report derives from the Secretary’s report of the 27 October 1897 meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Therein, he reported that ‘‘Mr Edgar R. Waite exhibited (1) examples of Typhlops aluensis, Blgr., from Wai Obi, Vuna Pi [Waioba, Vuna District], Fiji, where they are known to the natives as ’Naota’’’. No additional specimens of T. aluensis (now a synonym of Ramphotyphlops depressus) have been reported from Fiji since then, and no subsequent detailed description of Waite’s specimens confirms the validity of the Secretary’s report. Because Mr Waite had an avid interest in blind snakes and was employed by the Australian Museum (AMS), the voucher specimens should reside in that collection. Glen Shea, a research associate at the museum, reported the presence of three AMS register entries for ‘Typhlops sp.’ from the above locality. However, one specimen was destroyed and the other two cannot be located.

In 1998 a report of a blind snake in suburban Suva, Viti evu, led to the discovery of a recently introduced population of the parthenogenetic blind snake, Ramphotyphlops braminus (otherwise known as the flowerpot snake). R. braminus is now common in the Suva area, although it has not yet been reported elsewhere in Fiji.

One of us (DW) has persisted in the belief that in the absence of the mongoose the blind snake reported by Waite should still occur on Taveuni. In 2006 a comment by a Taveuni resident living close to Waioba offered the first substantial evidence that the Waite-reported blind snake is a valid record and survives. Encouragement by DW led to the the securing of a specimen and confirmation that the Waioba blind snake was not R. braminus. An immediate search by DW was unsuccessful. However, local knowledge of a burrowing snake was widespread and was sufficient to encourage the offer of a reward for specimens. This offer resulted in nine specimens (USNM 558260-268) collected during 2008–2009. Their arrival at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA) in June 2009 allows us to confirm that the Taveuni blind snakes are Ramphotyphlops (based on the presence of retrocloacal sacs and coiled retracted hemipenes in USNM 558264) and can be inferred to be the species reported by Waite in 1897. The Taveuni blind snake, however, is not R. depressus, which occurs in the Solomon Islands. Its morphology indicates it is an endemic species and a member of the R. flaviventer group, differing from R. depressus by the presence of a well-defined longitudinal dorsal stripe in contrast to the indistinct stripe in R. depressus. Other traits support the uniqueness of the Taveuni population.

The flowerpot snake has proved to be an extremely successful invader and now has a near pantropical distribution in disturbed habitats. It usually travels to new localities in root masses of ornamental plants and, being parthenogenic, a single individual can establish a new population. Presently there is no evidence that its presence threatens the survival of native blind snakes. However, its possible translocation to Taveuni adds another conservation concern for the native Fijian snakes.

Dick Watling NatureFiji-MareqetiViti, Fiji
Addison Wynn and George R. Zug National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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