Assessment Results
Amolops assamensis
Assamese Cascade Frog
Order:
Anura
Family:
Ranidae
Synonym(s):
Assessed for:
India
on:
06 Oct 2020
by:
AArk/ASG India Assessment Workshop
Authors:
Mohammad Firoz Ahmed, Mohini Mohan Borah, Basundhara Chettri, Prof. Sabitry Choudhury Bordoloi, Dr. Tutal Bortamuli, Nzano Humtsoe, H.T. Lalremsanga, Nikhil Modak, Annemarie Ohler, Jayaditya Purkayastha, Jayanta Roy, Saipari Sailo, Saibal Sengupta, Chatoan Tesia and Karthikeyan Vasudevan
IUCN Global Red List:
Data Deficient (DD)
National Red List:
(not assessed)
Distribution:
India
Evolutionary Distinctiveness score:
16.9208217
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.] | Data Deficient (DD) | |
| 2 | Possibly extinct | Is there a strong possibility that this species might be extinct in the wild? | No / unlikely | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | This species is known from Mayeng Hill Reserve Forest, Kamrup district, Assam, northeastern India (Sengupta et al. 2008) and is widespread throughout northeast India. It occurs in Kolaghat Reserve Forest and Mayeng Reserve Forest in Assam State (Sengupta et al. 2008), and Mawshamok village, Lawbah forest area (Sharma and Chandra 2012), and Cherrapunjee in the East Khasi hills division in Meghalaya State (Purkayastha and Basak 2017). It is also known throughout the low hills areas of Assam and is found in Mizoram (Jayaditya Purkayastha and Saipari Sailo, pers. comm. September 2020). The species has also been collected from Arunachal Pradesh (Chatoan Tesia, pers. comm. September 2020). It is also found in Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary, Nongkhylem Wildlife Sanctuary (Meghalaya), and Garbhanga Reserve Forest and Amchang in Assam (Mohammad Firoz Ahmed, pers. comm. September 2020), although these areas are not currently well-protected (India RLA/CNA workshop, 2020). It is likely to occur more widely, and may be found in similar habitats in Nagaland and Manipur, and more widely in Mizoram and Meghalaya (Jayaditya Purkayastha and Mohammad Firoz Ahmed, pers. comm. September 2020). It ranges between 80 and 1,580 m asl (Sengupta et al. 2008, Mohammad Firoz Ahmed, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 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? | Yes / probably | This species occurs in a number of protected areas (Mohammad Firoz Ahmed, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 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.). | Yes / probably | This species occurs within a number of protected areas, however two of these are relatively small and are not currently well-protected (India RLA/CNA workshop, 2020). |
| 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 | Improved habitat protection is required. An educational awareness program to promote the amphibians and their habitats of Northeast India is recommended for local people (India RLA/CNA workshop, 2020). Conservation should be aimed at protecting stream and riparian vegetation (Talukdar, S. & S. Sengupta, 2020). |
| 9 | In situ research | Is additional in situ research required to better understand the species, e.g. distribution, population trends, natural history etc.? | Yes | More information is needed on this species' taxonomy, population status, distribution and threats. Establishing baseline population data would also be useful (Mohammad Firoz Ahmed, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 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 are likely to be reversible in time frame to prevent further decline / extinction | This species will not tolerate habitat disturbance (India RLA/CNA workshop, 2020). The combination of collection locally for food and ongoing habitat loss are threats to this species, and increased harvesting of this species is likely to occur in the future (India RLA/CNA workshop, 2020). Stone quarrying is also a problem in Rani-Garbhanga Hills (Mohammad Firoz Ahmed and Jayaditya Purkayastha, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 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 | Both tadpoles and adults of this species are used for food and it is found in markets. It is quite widely consumed by local communities, however this is not thought to be causing large declines (Mohammad Firoz Ahmed, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 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? | Yes / probably | This species is generally found to be moderately common, with numbers varying in different localities (Jayaditya Purkayastha, pers. comm. September 2020). Declines have been observed in Garbhanga Reserve Forest (Assam) over the past ten years, due to habitat loss (Jayaditya Purkayastha, pers. comm. September 2020). The population is better in higher altitudes (India RLA/CNA workshop, 2020). In the low hill areas of its range it is also thought to be declining due to forest loss (Mohammad Firoz Ahmed, pers. comm. September 2020). Previously 20-30 individuals would be seen at a time, however these groups have now halved (Jayaditya Purkayastha, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 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? | Yes | It is quite widely consumed by local communities (India RLA/CNA workshop, 2020). Other species in this genus are used for medicine, but there are no records of this species in particular being used (Basundhara Chettri, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 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 | |
| 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? | Not held in captivity to date | |
| 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? | Yes | This is one of the species that is found in close proximity to cities and towns, and it would be a good species to educate people about amphibian conservation. Also it is the only amphibian species which is named after Assam (Jayaditya Purkayastha, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 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? | Yes / probably | |
| 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 | Assignment to Amolops based on association of topotypic larvae that were not grown to adulthood; the generic assignment is therefore provisional (Darrel R. Frost). This is a valid species, however there are some specimens that might be assigned to another species (Jayaditya Purkayastha, pers. comm. September 2020). |
Citation:
Mohammad Firoz Ahmed, Mohini Mohan Borah, Basundhara Chettri, Prof. Sabitry Choudhury Bordoloi, Dr. Tutal Bortamuli, Nzano Humtsoe, H.T. Lalremsanga, Nikhil Modak, Annemarie Ohler, Jayaditya Purkayastha, Jayanta Roy, Saipari Sailo, Saibal Sengupta, Chatoan Tesia and Karthikeyan Vasudevan 2020. Conservation Needs Assessment for Amolops assamensis, India
(AArk/ASG India Assessment Workshop).
https://conservationneeds.org/assessment/5392
Accessed 30 Jan 2025
