Assessment Results
Scutiger occidentalis
Ladakh Pelobatid Toad, Asian Lazy Toad, Western Pelobatid Toad
Order:
Anura
Family:
Megophryidae
Synonym(s):
Scutiger nyingchiensis
Assessed for:
India
on:
04 Sep 2020
by:
AArk/ASG India Assessment Workshop
Authors:
Prudhvi Raj Gunturu, Ramachandran Kotharambath, Annemarie Ohler, Naitik Patel, Dr. Gopal Singh Rawat, Robin Suyesh, Ashish Thomas and Karthikeyan Vasudevan
IUCN Global Red List:
Not Evaluated (NE)
National Red List:
(not assessed)
Distribution:
India, Pakistan
Evolutionary Distinctiveness score:
9
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 found in Gilgit Baltistan in Pakistan, and Ladakh in Kashmir and Trakar Rani Kot in Himachal Pradesh (Litvinchuk et al. 2019), India, between 2,920-4,100 m asl (India RLA/CNA workshop, 2020). It is also known from Sonmarg, Kashmir in India (Prudhvi Raj Gunturu, pers. comm. September 2020) and from Dachigam National Park, Katapatherhi (Karthikeyan Vasudevan, pers. comm. August 2020). It may occur more widely than is currently known, but further studies are required (Naitik Patel, 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? | Unknown | |
| 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 is found within Dachigam National Park, Katapatherhi (Karthikeyan Vasudevan, pers. comm. August 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.)? | Unknown | |
| 9 | In situ research | Is additional in situ research required to better understand the species, e.g. distribution, population trends, natural history etc.? | Yes | Further research is required on distribution, population and threats. |
| 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 unlikely to be reversed in time to prevent further decline / extinction | It is unknown if this species is adaptable to habitat disturbance (India RLA/CNA workshop, 2020). The current threats to this species are unknown. Climate change is a likely future threat to this species which may cause temperature fluctuations in the water, and effects on stream morphology (Prudhvi Raj Gunturu and Naitik Patel, pers. comm. September 2020). Also habitat shifting will be a prob as it is a high-elevation species. UV increases will likely cause problems (India RLA/CNA workshop, 2020). Though several stream habitats are intact, there is a lot of pressure on the land for construction of dams, water diversion and tunneling projects in both Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir (Karthikeyan Vasudevan, pers. comm. August 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? | Unknown | Frogs have been collected from the Milam glacier in Uttarakhand, India (observed in 2006), by Nepalese labourers, who were drying them on rocks. They are highly valued in China for traditional Chinese medicine and fetch a lot of money and although the species is exploited for traditional medicine, the extent of this is not known (Dr. Gopal Singh Rawat, 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? | Unknown | This a rare species, which is patchily distributed, and only found in low numbers (Prudhvi Raj Gunturu, pers. comm. September 2020). It is locally rare and occurs in few numbers in the best of habitats (Karthikeyan Vasudevan, pers. comm. August 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? | 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 | |
| 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? | Yes / probably | Scutiger sikimmensis would be a good husbandry analog (Karthikeyan Vasudevan, pers. comm. December 2020). |
| 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? | No | |
| 23 | Mandate | Is there an existing conservation mandate recommending the ex situ conservation of this taxon? | Yes | Identified as a target species for ex situ management (Gupta et al, 2015). |
| 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. |
| 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 | This is a split from the broader concept of Scutiger nyingchiensis, from which it has been resurrected from synonymy (Hofmann et al. 2017). |
Citation:
Prudhvi Raj Gunturu, Ramachandran Kotharambath, Annemarie Ohler, Naitik Patel, Dr. Gopal Singh Rawat, Robin Suyesh, Ashish Thomas and Karthikeyan Vasudevan 2020. Conservation Needs Assessment for Scutiger occidentalis, India
(AArk/ASG India Assessment Workshop).
https://conservationneeds.org/assessment/6788
Accessed 25 Apr 2025
