Assessment Results
Holoaden luederwaldti
Order:
Anura
Family:
Craugastoridae
Synonym(s):
Holoaden leuderwaldti
Assessed for:
Brazil
on:
11 Nov 2020
by:
AArk/ASG Brazil Assessment Workshop
Authors:
I.A. Martins and L.F. Toledo
IUCN Global Red List:
Data Deficient (DD)
National Red List:
Endangered (EN)
Distribution:
Brazil
Evolutionary Distinctiveness score:
30.3952051
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 - 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? | Yes / probably | Most of the population occurs within reliably protected areas (Parque Nacional do Itatiaia and Parque Estadual de Campos do Jordão). This species also occurs in the Área de Proteção Ambiental da Serra Mantiqueira. |
| 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 | Parque Nacional do Itatiaia and Parque Estadual de Campos do Jordão |
| 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 | Improve surveillance and reduce deforestation in areas of occurrence; Control fires in parks, mainly in Campos do Jordão. |
| 9 | In situ research | Is additional in situ research required to better understand the species, e.g. distribution, population trends, natural history etc.? | Yes | Distribution and natural history of this species are well know (Martins. I.A. 2010. Natural history of Holoaden luederwaldti (Amphibia: Strabomantidae: Holoadeninae) in southeastern of Brazil). Research on the impacts of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in its population should be prioritized. Studies on modeling the distribution of individuals across the fragments are reccomended. Monitoring populations is also reccomended, but with caution, as this species is very sensitive and individuals can die with handling (I.A. Martins, pers. comm. 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 | The main threats for this species are: deforestation in Serra da Mantiqueira; uncontrolled fires in areas of Campos do Jordão; climate change - this species occurs in the mountains and is very sensitive to high temperatures. Increase of 3-4 celsius degrees can be significative, as seen in captive (I.A. Martins, pers. comm. 2020). In addition, this is species is very dependent on litter. |
| 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 | |
| 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 | The population is large enough to recover normally, but it would take some time, since the species has direct development and females have around 30-40 oocytes. |
| 13 | Action plans | Does an Action Plan for the species already exist, or is one currently being developed? | No | There is no specific plan for this species, but it is part of the National Action Plan "Plano de Ação Nacional para a Conservação da Herpetofauna Ameaçada da Mata Atlântica da Região Sudeste do Brasil" (PAN Herpetofauna do Sudeste) |
| 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? | Yes | Studies on the effects of climate change and Bd on the species would be better carried out in captivity. The development of a husbandry and reproductive protocol for this species would be beneficial for other species of the genus Holoaden. |
| 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? | Yes | H. luederwaldti it is the most abundant species of the genus and most easily found. Therefore, it would be the best analog to other species of the genus, such as Holoaden bradei, for example (I.A. Martins, pers. comm. 2020). |
| 21 | Captive breeding | Has this species been successfully bred and/or maintained in captivity? | Not held in captivity to date | I.A. Martins made an effort to try to temporarily keep the species in captivity, but had a lot of difficulty, since the species is very sensitive. The frogs were kept individually in glass terrariums, with damp litter from the place of origin, screen lid and water container, but died within 24 hours. A slightly better attempt, in which the frogs survived for about 15 days, was the individual maintenance in 20L plastic bags, filled with litter, in which invertebrates came together as the only food source. A fundamental factor is thermal stabilization, between 17-20ºC at the most (I.A. Martins, pers. comm. 2020). |
| 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 | Although this species is cryptic, it occurs in mountain parks frequented by tourists, so it is worth investing in educational ecotourism work, encouraging its preservation, since other species of the genus are in a very critical situation, including H. bradei which is possibly extinct. This species is part of the DOTs Project, which aims to promote scientific communication and highlight conservation needs of the Brazilian threatened amphibians. |
| 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 |
Citation:
I.A. Martins and L.F. Toledo 2020. Conservation Needs Assessment for Holoaden luederwaldti, Brazil
(AArk/ASG Brazil Assessment Workshop).
https://conservationneeds.org/assessment/968
Accessed 01 Apr 2025
