CITES CoP16 Digest - Species Survival Network

SPECIES/PROPONENT/PROPOSAL CURRENT STATUS OF SPECIES SSN VIEW
22
Continued
• Palea steindachnerii (wattle-necked softshell turtle):
• Distribution: Vietnam, China.
• Population: Endangered (IUCN 2000).
• Threats: Highly valuable in food trade (IUCN 2012).
• Trade: Listed in Appendix III (China).
• Pelodiscus spp. (except P. sinensis, farmed in very high numbers for food
markets):
• Distribution: Until recently only P. sinensis recognized (IUCN 2000);
DNA analyses support recognition of three further species (Yang et al.
2011; Stuckas and Fritz 2011); 1) P. axenaria (Hunan softshell turtle):
China, where exploitation pressure for food markets extremely high;
often traded as P. sinensis; 2) P. maackii (Northern Chinese softshell
turtle): China, Russian Federation, Korea; and 3) P. parviformis (Lesser
Chinese softshell turtle): China.
• Population: Declining.
• Threats/Trade: Continue to be exploited for food and possibly farm
founder stock, resulting in a decline in abundance.
• Rafetus swinhoei (Yangtze giant softshell turtle):
• Distribution: China, Vietnam.
• Population: Critically Endangered (IUCN 2000). Only four known
individuals (one female); largest softshell turtle in the world.
• Threats/Trade: Pollution, habitat loss, intensively exploited for food
trade and would be for pet trade if captured alive.
b) Transfer of Chitra chitra and C. vandijki from Appendix II to
Appendix I
• Chitra chitra (Asian narrow-headed softshell turtle):
• Distribution: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
• Population: Critically Endangered (IUCN 2000).
• Threats: Hunting for food, collection for pet trade, egg harvesting
and bycatch; highly prone to over-collection due to predictable nest
site selection and timing of nesting (IUCN 2000).
• Trade: Intensively exploited for food and international pet trade
(IUCN 2000); 368 exported from Malaysia from 2003-2009.
• Chitra vandijki (Burmese narrow-headed softshell turtle):
• Distribution: Myanmar.
• Population: Described in 2003, not yet assessed by IUCN; proposed
as Critically Endangered; rare to very rare.
• Threats/Trade: Intensively exploited; habitat threatened by mining
and fishing with explosives.
Prop. 39
Machalilla frog
Epipedobates machalilla
• Distribution: Ecuador; discovered 1995.
• Population: Near Threatened (IUCN 2004).
• Threats: Agriculture, wood harvest and climate change.
• Trade: Epipedobates spp. commonly found in the international pet trade;
trade data for E. machalilla not available.
SUPPORT
• Proponent is sole range State and has prepared proposal at request of
AC (AC25 Summary Record).
• E. machalilla not included in original listing of genus because at the time
it was included in Colostethus; it cannot be automatically included in the
Appendices because it is outside the scope of the genus Epipedobates
as this was understood at time of listing.
• Proposal is necessary to avoid having to annotate listing of Epipedobates
spp. to specifically exclude E. machalilla.
Ecuador
Inclusion in Appendix II
• Epipedobates machalilla should be included in Appendix II to
address nomenclature issues