Caledargiolestes janiceae Lieftinck, 1975
(photo not available)
Caledargiolestes janiceae Lieftinck, 1975: 141 .
Distribution (Fig. 2). Endemic to Grande Terre where it is restricted to a small area in the south. The type locality of the holotype male is Mont Pouédihi, 15 km to the west of the Forest Station of Ouénarou (Lieftinck 1975). Win- stanley (1984c) reported a female sampled in November–December 1981. The last record is from Davies (2002) who gave ‘road from Nouméa to Yaté’ as the site of capture, with no other details. Most probably this record would have been collected in the 1980s (A. Orr pers. comm.).
Habitats. The semi-adult male holotype of C. janiceae was collected in a stream at an altitude of 153 m. The precise habitat of this specimen has not been described. Its biology and behaviour are unknown.
Status. Despite targeted searches during the second half of February 2011, this extremely rare Grande Terre endemic was found neither at Mont Pouédihi nor along the streams crossing the road from Nouméa to Yaté. The absence could have been due to the lateness of the searches. We suspect the most favourable period would have been from the second half of November to the end of January. Caledargiolestes janiceae must be considered as CR.