Assessment Results
Hoplobatrachus occipitalis
African Groove-crowned Frog, Crowned Bullfrog, African Tiger Frog
Order:
Anura
Family:
Dicroglossidae
Synonym(s):
Assessed for:
Morocco
on:
16 Apr 2026
by:
Devin Edmonds
Authors:
Abdellah Bouazza, Aziza Lansari, Benjamin Tapley, Olivier Marquis, Gerardo García
IUCN Global Red List:
Least Concern (LC)
National Red List:
(not assessed)
Distribution:
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, The Republic of the, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, United Republic of, Togo, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia
Evolutionary Distinctiveness score:
31.07592158
Recommended Conservation Actions:
Additional Comments:
| Question # | Short Name | Question Text | Response | Comments |
| 1 | Extinction risk | Current IUCN Red List category. [Data obtained from the IUCN Red List.] | Least Concern (LC) | |
| 2 | Possibly extinct | Is there a strong possibility that this species might be extinct in the wild? | No / unlikely | Confirmed present in recent years but rare and localized in the extreme south of Morocco (e.g., Gleïb Ledjir) on the border of Mauritania. |
| 3 | Phylogenetic significance | The taxon’s Evolutionary Distinctiveness (ED) score, as generated by the ZSL EDGE program. (These data are not editable by Assessors). | ED value 20 - 50 | |
| 4 | Protected habitat | Is a population of at least 50% of the individuals of the taxon included within a well-managed or reliably protected area or areas? | No / unlikely | Only known from a single site in Morocco that is outside of protected areas |
| 5 | Habitat for reintroduction, conservation translocation or supplementation | Does enough well-managed and reliably protected habitat exist, either within or outside of currently protected areas that is suitable for conservation translocation, including population restoration or conservation introduction? | Unknown | It is only known from one locality that is difficult to to survey because access is restricted by military presence and some of the area is mined, making fieldwork extremely difficult or impossible |
| 6 | Previous reintroductions | Have reintroduction or translocation attempts been made in the past for this species? | No | |
| 7 | In situ conservation activities | Are any in situ conservation actions currently in place for this species? (Only required if a Red List Assessment has not been completed, or if new actions have been implemented since the last Red List Assessment. (Information from the Conservation Actions section of the Red List assessment should be reviewed and considered when answering this question.). | No / unlikely | |
| 8 | In situ conservation activities | Are additional in situ conservation actions required to help conserve this species in the wild (e.g. habitat restoration and/or protection, control of invasive species, national legislation etc.)? | Yes / probably | Actions are likely needed to prevent the alteration of habitats and the drying of gueltas |
| 9 | In situ research | Is additional in situ research required to better understand the species, e.g. distribution, population trends, natural history etc.? | Yes | Very little is known about this species in Morocco since it is only known from a single locality that is difficult to access. |
| 10 | Threat mitigation | Are the threats facing the taxon, including any new and emerging threats not considered in the IUCN Red List, potentially reversible? | Threats unknown | Uncertain. While local habitat alteration can be managed, prolonged dry phases and irregular rainfall in the Sahel are difficult to mitigate. They completely depend on the permanence of gueltas (Geniez et al., 2000; Mateo et al., 2013). However, the single locality has not been visited by a herpetological team in decades and so the current threats are not entirely known. |
| 11 | Over-collection from the wild | Is the taxon suffering from collection within its natural range, either for food, for the pet trade or for any other reason, which threatens the species’ continued persistence in the wild? | No / unlikely | In sub-Saharan Africa, H. occipitalis is frequently used for human consumption (Onadeko et al., 2011; Seignobos, 2014). This species also has a medicinal use in Burkina Faso; in cases of appendicitis, these frogs are rubbed on the affected areas of the abdomen (Mohneke et al., 2011). |
| 12 | Population recovery | Is the known population of this species in the wild large enough to recover naturally, without ex situ intervention if threats are mitigated? | Unknown | Unknown, but possibly unlikely without intervention. These are relic populations with low resilience that depend entirely on the permanence of localized water sources |
| 13 | Action plans | Does an Action Plan for the species already exist, or is one currently being developed? | No | |
| 14 | Biological distinctiveness | Does the taxon exhibit a distinctive reproductive mode, behaviour, aspect of morphology or physiology, within the Order to which it belongs (e.g. Anura, Passeriformes etc.)? | No aspect of biology known to be exceptional | |
| 15 | Cultural/socio-economic importance | Does the taxon have a special human cultural value (e.g. as a national or regional symbol, in a historic context, featuring in traditional stories) or economic value (e.g. food, traditional medicine, tourism) within its natural range or in a wider global context? | No | |
| 16 | Scientific importance | Is the species vital to current or planned research other than species-specific ecology/biology/conservation within the Order to which it belongs (e.g. Anura, Passeriformes etc.) e.g. human medicine, climate change, environmental pollutants and conservation science? | No research dependent on this species | However, it is a good model for studying the persistence of Afrotropical/Sahelian lineages in the central Sahara |
| 17 | Ex situ research | Does conserving this species (or closely related species) in situ depend upon research that can be most easily carried out ex situ? | No | |
| 18 | Ex situ conservation activities | Is any ex situ research or other ex situ conservation action currently in place for this species? (Information from the Conservation Actions section of the Red List assessment should be reviewed and considered when answering this question.) | No / unlikely | |
| 19 | Husbandry analog required | If an ex situ rescue program is recommended for this species, would an analog species be required to develop husbandry protocols first? | No / unlikely | |
| 20 | Husbandry analog | Do the biological and ecological attributes of this species make it suitable for developing husbandry regimes for more threatened related species? i.e. could this species be used in captivity to help to develop husbandry and breeding protocols which could be used for a similar, but more endangered species at a later stage? | No | |
| 21 | Captive breeding | Has this species been successfully bred and/or maintained in captivity? | Maintained but no successful breeding | It has been maintained in captivity for the food trade outside of Morocco and could have even been bred, but there are no certain records. It has not been kept in Morocco. |
| 22 | Conservation education/ecotourism potential | Is the species especially diurnal, active or colourful, or is there an interesting or unusual aspect of its ecology that make it particularly suitable to be an educational ambassador for conservation of the species in the range country, either in zoos or aquariums or within ecotourism activities? | No | |
| 23 | Mandate | Is there an existing conservation mandate recommending the ex situ conservation of this taxon? | No | |
| 24 | Range State approval | If an ex situ initiative was proposed for this species, would it be supported (and approved) by the range State (either within the range State or out-of-country ex situ)? | Yes / probably | |
| 25 | Founder specimens | Are sufficient animals of the taxon available or potentially available (from wild or captive sources) to initiate an ex situ program, if one was recommended? | Unknown | Research into availability of founders needs to be prioritised. Difficult to khow. Saharan populations are rare and localized. Research into availability of founders needs to be prioritised. |
| 26 | Taxonomic status | Has a complete taxonomic analysis of the species in the wild been carried out, to fully understand the functional unit you wish to conserve (i.e. have species limits been determined)? | Yes | Phylogenetic analyses indicate that H. occipitalis is the sister clade of all Asian species of the genus (Kosuch et al., 2001), with an estimated split about 30 Ma ago (Pyron, 2014). |
Citation:
Abdellah Bouazza, Aziza Lansari, Benjamin Tapley, Olivier Marquis, Gerardo García 2026. Conservation Needs Assessment for Hoplobatrachus occipitalis, Morocco
(Devin Edmonds).
https://conservationneeds.org/assessment/7330
Accessed 27 Apr 2026
