Contact: Collette Adkins Giese, (651) 955-3821
Press Release, St. Petersburg, FL. 2/11/14 — The
Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal petition today seeking Endangered Species Act
protection for nine newly identified species of skinks found only in Puerto Rico
and the Virgin Islands. These rare lizards with smooth skins are on the knife’s
edge of extinction due to introduced predators and habitat destruction.
Reptiles around the globe are in the midst of an extinction crisis with roughly
1 in 5 species considered endangered or at risk of disappearing.
“Time is running out for these lizards,” said Collette
Adkins Giese, a Center biologist and lawyer focused on protecting reptiles and
amphibians. “The Caribbean is home to
extremely rare animals found nowhere else in the world, but too many have
already gone extinct. To save these skinks, we need to get them protected under
the Endangered Species Act.”
Scientists recently recognized the nine petitioned
skinks, along with dozens of others on Caribbean
islands. The scientists initiated their study after finding unusually large genetic
differences among populations of these skinks on different islands in the Caribbean . All of the newly identified endemic Caribbean skinks are near extinction (or already extinct)
due to introduced predators like mongooses and cats, as well as large-scale
habitat destruction for development and agriculture.
This loss is alarming because reptiles play important
roles as predators and prey in their ecosystems and they’re valuable indicators
of environmental health. The animals in today’s petition will reap life-saving
benefits from the Endangered Species Act, which has a 99 percent success rate
at staving off extinction for species under its care.
“Skinks have a slow-moving curiosity and are not
adapted to fast predators such as the mongoose, introduced by humans,” said Dr.
Blair Hedges of Pennsylvania
State University
Although reptiles have been around for hundreds of
millions of years and survived every major extinction period, now, due largely
to human impacts, they’re dying off at up to 10,000 times the historic
extinction rate. About 20 percent of reptiles in the world are endangered or
vulnerable to extinction. Within the Caribbean ,
scientists estimate that reptiles have levels of endangerment that are at or
near the highest levels worldwide.
The Center was joined in its petition for these nine
skinks by Dr. Renata Platenberg, an ecologist specializing in Caribbean
reptiles.
Background
The petitioned-for Caribbean skinks, which can grow to
be about 8 inches long, are unique among reptiles in having reproductive
systems most like humans, including a placenta and live birth. They have
cylindrical bodies, and most have ill-defined necks that, together with their
sinuous movements and smooth, bronze-colored skin, make them look like stubby
snakes.
Four of the species for which we petitioned are found
within the territory of Puerto Rico : the Culebra skink (Culebra and the
adjacent islet of Culebrita), Mona skink (Mona
Island ), Monito skink (Monito Island )
and Puerto Rican skink (Puerto Rico and
several of its satellite islands). The remaining five are found in the Virgin
Islands: the Greater St. Croix skink (St. Croix and its satellite Green Cay),
Lesser St. Croix skink (St. Croix), Greater Virgin Islands skink (St. John and
St. Thomas), Lesser Virgin Islands skinks (St. Thomas and two adjacent islets,
several British Virgin Islands) and Virgin Islands bronze skink (St. Thomas and
several of its islets, several British Virgin Islands).
Eight of the nine petitioned-for species fall
within the genus Spondylurus, and one falls within the genus Capitellum. The
genus Spondylurus includes what are now known as the Antillean four-lined
skinks because of the four major dark stripes on their back and sides. Skinks
in the genus Capitellum are called the Antillean small-headed skinks and have
small feet and short heads, lacking dark dorsolateral stripes.
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