REGIONAL OFFICE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (RAP), BANGKOK July-September 2011 FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Regional Quarterly Bulletin on Wildlife and National Parks Management Vol. XXXVIII : No. 3 Featuring Vol. XXV: No. 3 Contents Rediscovery of Hemidactylus hunae from type locality and some additional field observations from Sri Lanka............................................................................ 1 Occurrence of white-winged wood duck in forest ecology of Nameri National Park, Assam.......................................8 Habitat selection of blackbuck and chinkara in Thar Desert.... 17 Documenting reliance on forest and its products by Nishis around Itanagar Wildlife Sanctuary....................................24 Records of some termite species from forests of North Gujarat region................................................................. 31 REGIONAL OFFICE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC TIGERPAPER is a quarterly news bulletin Second regional forum for people and forests........................1 dedicated to the exchange of information First APEC meeting of Ministers Responsible for Forestry......3 relating to wildlife and national parks New FAO forestry websites.................................................10 management for the Climate change and forests in Asia: identifying threats and Asia-Pacific Region. opportunities................................................................... 10 ISSN 1014 - 2789 Indonesia’s taking the lead: integrating community forestry and carbon market opportunities....................................... 12 Address. An assessment of the potential impacts of forest product legality regulations and REDD+ on forest production and TIGERPAPER trade in the Asia-Pacific region..........................................14 FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Outstanding achievements in assisted natural regeneration Maliwan Mansion, Phra Atit Road (ANR) win Edouard Saouma Award for Excellence.............15 Bangkok, 10200, Thailand RAP NRE staff movement.................................................. 16 Tel: (662) 697-4000 FAO Asia-Pacific Forestry Calendar………………............... 16 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.fao.org/world/ regional/rap/tigerpaper/tigerpaper.htm Editor: Janice Naewboonnien Advisor: P. Durst TIGERPAPER is dependent upon your free and voluntary The opinions expressed by the contributions in the form of articles, news items, and announcements in contributing authors are not the field of wildlife and nature conservation in the region. In order to necessarily those of FAO. The better serve the n eeds of our readers please write to us and send in the designations employed and the information you have or let us know if there is any information that you presentation of the material in the need. We appreciate receiving your letters and make all efforts to TIGERPAPER do not imply the respond. expression of any opinion on the part of FAO concerning the legal or Front cover: Hemidactylus hunae - Lateral view of right side of the constitutional status of any country, head. (Photo: Courtesy of D.M.S.S. Karunarathna) territority or sea area, or the delimitation of frontiers. Vol. 38: No. 3 July-September 2011 | Rediscovery of Hemidactylus hunae Deraniyagala in Sri Lanka Rediscovery of Hemidactylus hunae Deraniyagala REDISCOVERY OF Hemidactylus hunae Deraniyagala, 1937 (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) FROM TYPE LOCALITY AND SOME ADDITIONAL FIELD OBSERVATIONS FROM SRI LANKA by D.M.S. Suranjan Karunarathna and Anushka Kumarasinghe Introduction in and around the Paanama forest area. After careful examination it was identified as H. hunae here are 42 species of Gekonid lizards in Sri Deraniyagala, 1937. This constitutes the second TLanka and 33 species (78.5%) of them are record of the species from a type locality in Paanama endemic to the island (Bauer et al., 2010a, 2010b; and these were not collected. It is essential to gather de Silva, 2006; Manamendra-Arachchi et al., 2007; information on H. hunae in different areas of the Wickramasinghe and Munundradasa, 2007). The country as the first step towards conservation of this genus Hemidactylus is spread throughout South Asia giant gecko species. as well as Europe and most of the Indian Archipelago (Deraniyagala, 1953; Pough et al., 2004). The genus Materials and methods Hemidactylus comprises eight species/sub species | in Sri Lanka (Das and de Silva, 2005), hence, The specimens examined were deposited at the becoming the second largest gecko genus of the National Museum of Sri Lanka (NMSL) in Colombo island (Wickramasinghe and Somaweera, 2008). and with the Wildlife Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka Hemidactylus frenatus Schlegel, 1836; H. (WHT), Agarapatana. This work is mainly based on leschenaultii Dumeril and Bibron, 1836; H. a search for distribution patterns, habitat, ecology, scabriceps (Annandale, 1906); H. platyurus behavior and our additional field observations on their Schneider, 1792; H. parvimaculatus Deraniyagala, conditions and threats. Photographs were taken of 1953; H. maculatus hunae Deraniyagala, 1937; H. live specimens, which were then released back where lankae Deraniyagala, 1953 and H. depressus Gray, they were originally captured. No specimens were 1842 (Carranza and Arnold, 2006; de Silva, 2006) preserved or injured. All the measurements were are the members of Hemidactylus genus found in taken to the nearest 0.1 mm with vernier calipers Sri Lanka. Of these, the latter four are endemic to and measuring tape. Elevation is given in meters and Sri Lanka (Manamendra-Arachchi, 1997; other measurements were given in millimeters. SVL Wickramasinghe and Somaweera, 2003). = snout vent length and TL = tail length. Hemidactylus hunae is a poorly studied gecko species in Sri Lanka (de Silva et al., 2004; Type locality and habitat Wickramasinghe and Somaweera, 2008). H. hunae was first described by Dr. P.E.P. Deraniyagala in Paanama is located in Ampara District, Eastern 1937 from Okanda and Paanama in the Eastern Province, and is one of the prime habitats of Sloth Province of Sri Lanka based on five specimens bear (Melursus ursinus) and Leopard (Panthera (Somaweera and Somaweera, 2009). The holotype pardus). Paanama (Fig.1) is approximately 16 km is a female (SVL 105mm and TL 115mm) and it from Potuvil town and its elevation is less than 25m. has been deposited in the British museum. According The area lies between 7° 25’ 47" Northern latitudes to IUCN Sri Lanka and MENR (2007), its and 81° 12’ 18" Eastern longitudes and encompasses conservation status is ‘Near Threatened’. There have an area of more than 100 km2. The average annual been no recent records from type localities in rainfall is over 1,750 mm, with most of the rainfall Paanama on this species in the past 70 years. During occurring from December to March, with occasional a study of the biodiversity of Eastern province, the rains in the other months. From August to December authors caught specimens of an unusual large gecko the weather gradually becomes very dry with the 111 | Rediscovery of Hemidactylus hunae Deraniyagala in Sri Lanka | 2 2 Vol. 38:No.3July-September2011 Figure 1: Current distribution pattern of Hemidactylus hunae 1) Baduluwelakanda; 2) Bambarabeddegala; 3) Beddegala; 4) Buddangala; 5) Bulupitiyahela; 6) Dambadeniyahela; 7) Godigamuwahela; 8) Guruhela; 9) Habuthagala; 10) Hamapolakanda; 11) Hangala; 12) Hewamedillahela; 13) Karandugala; 14) Kokagalakanda; 15) Koslanda; 16) Kudumbigala; 1) Maligathenna; 18) Maragalakanda; 19) Nuwaragala; 20) Rahathangala; 21) Rathugala; 22) Ulhela; 23) Yakunhela; 24) Panama “Type locality” Vol. 38: No. 3 July-September 2011 | highest temperatures recorded in August (33°C). and to locate other individuals, but none of them in Sri Lanka Rediscovery of Hemidactylus hunae Deraniyagala The mean annual temperature in the Panama area were successful. Further investigation at the same is 29.4°C with a lowest recording of 28.1ˆ C. site to locate this same individual was also a failure. According to Gunatilleke and Gunatilleke (1990), However, this species is the largest endemic the area is classified as tropical dry mixed evergreen member representing the Hemidactylus genus in forest. The dominant tree species in the area are Sri Lanka. Therefore, more research will have to Manilkara hexandra (Palu), Dimorphocalyx be carried out in this location to gather more data sepiaria (Weera), Terminalia arjuna (Kumbuk), on this species. Diospyros ebenum (Kaluwara), D. malabarica (Thimbiri), D. chaeocarpa (Kalumediriya), Additional observations Schleichera oleosa (Kon), Limonia acidissima (Divul), Ficus sp. (Nuga) and the climbing plant According to our field observations Hemidactylus Entada pusaetha (Puswel). The area is full of large maculatus hunae is restricted to the southeastern caves (8-12m width and 10m high), large rocks, parts of Sri Lanka in the dry zone and intermediate stone boulders, and is shady due to the high (20m) zone between about 25m to 400m a.s.l.. During forest canopy. Recent survey results show that our surveys in Ampara, Badulla and Monaragala the Paanama area harbours 14 species of districts we recorded 24 separate locations, which amphibians and 43 spe-cies of reptiles (Somaweera are shown in the map. We also identified 58 et al., 2004). important granite caves and rock boulders in these areas. Out of these, 5 caves were represented as egg-deposition sites. In these egg-deposition sites Observation at type locality | we counted 11 eggs in total (measurements range