Conservation Concerns Over The Jeypore Ground Gecko

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Key takeaways

A proposed 147-hectare bauxite mining project in the Balda hills threatens the endangered Jeypore ground gecko.
Herpetologists rediscovered the Jeypore ground gecko in 2010 after scientists presumed it extinct for 130 years.
This gecko species is native strictly to high-altitude zones between 900 and 1,400 metres in the Eastern Ghats.
The adult gecko measures approximately 3.6 inches (92 mm) in total length.

A proposed 147-hectare bauxite mining project in the Balda hills of Odisha raises major conservation worries.
This project threatens the endangered Jeypore ground gecko after conservationists recently spotted it inside the mining lease area.

This rare lizard species is scientifically known as Cyrtodactylus jeyporensis or Geckoella jeyporensis and stays active mainly at night.
British naturalist Richard Henry Beddome first documented this creature in 1877.
Scientists presumed it extinct for 130 years until herpetologists Ishan Agarwal and Aniruddha Datta-Roy rediscovered it in 2010.

This gecko is native exclusively to high-elevation areas between 900 and 1,400 metres in the Eastern Ghats.
Its natural home spans across southern Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh.
It lives on the floors of montane semi-evergreen forests, hiding inside boulder crevices, rock piles, and under decaying leaf litter.

The gecko reaches about 3.6 inches (92 mm) in total length and has a large, egg-shaped head.
Its back features neat, flat scales arranged like bricks in a wall.
The body color ranges from light yellowish-brown to orange with bold reddish-brown and black-edged spots.
It lacks specialized preanal or femoral pores, and its tail is cylindrical and tapering.
Unlike common wall geckos, this species stays strictly on the ground and hunts at night among leaf litter and rocks.
Scientists believe it is an ancient wet-zone relict lineage that split from its relatives over 20 million years ago as Peninsular India grew drier.

The gecko represents a unique evolutionary branch that helps scientists understand historical climate shifts in the Indian subcontinent.
It acts as a bio-indicator for the health of montane forests.
Its limited habitat makes it extremely vulnerable to mining, deforestation, and habitat fragmentation.