Centrolene ballux

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AMPHIBIA	ANURA	CENTROLENIDAE

Scientific Name:	Centrolene ballux
Species Authority:	(Duellman and Burrowes, 1989)

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Critically Endangered A2ac; B2ab(iii,iv,v) ver 3.1
Year Published:	2004
Assessor/s:	Wilmar Bolívar, Luis A. Coloma, Santiago Ron, Diego Cisneros-Heredia, Erik Wild
Reviewer/s:	Global Amphibian Assessment Coordinating Team (Simon Stuart, Janice Chanson, Neil Cox and Bruce Young)
Contributor/s:
Justification: Listed as Critically Endangered because of a drastic population decline, estimated to be more than 80% over the last three generations, inferred from the apparent disappearance of most of the population, and because its Area of Occupancy is probably less than 10km2, its distribution is severely fragmented, and the extent of its forest habitat, the number of locations, and the number of mature individuals in Ecuador and Colombia are declining.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species is known from three nearby localities in Saloya River Valley in Ecuador (Pichincha Province), at 1,700-2,010m asl, and from the Pacific versant of Colombia, in the Reserva Natural La Planada, 1,780m asl, Nariño Department.
Countries:	Native: Colombia; Ecuador
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	In Ecuador, the most recent record is from 1989, and the species is no longer present in the Saloya Valley, and is apparently not in other nearby valleys. It has apparently declined seriously. In Colombia, many specimens were collected when it was first recorded, but there have been no recent surveys.
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	It lives on vegetation next to streams in humid upper montane forest. It breeds in streams and is probably not tolerant of degraded habitats.
Systems:	Terrestrial; Freshwater

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	The most likely cause of the severe decline of this species is the movement of the cloud layer up the mountain sides as a result of climate change, resulting in reduced humidity within the altitudinal range of the species (probably exacerbated by habitat fragmentation). Additional likely threats include: deforestation for agricultural development (including illegal crops), fire, logging, and human settlement; introduction of alien predatory fish species in streams; and pollution resulting from the spraying of illegal crops. Chytridiomycosis also cannot be ruled out.

Major Threat(s):

The most likely cause of the severe decline of this species is the movement of the cloud layer up the mountain sides as a result of climate change, resulting in reduced humidity within the altitudinal range of the species (probably exacerbated by habitat fragmentation). Additional likely threats include: deforestation for agricultural development (including illegal crops), fire, logging, and human settlement; introduction of alien predatory fish species in streams; and pollution resulting from the spraying of illegal crops. Chytridiomycosis also cannot be ruled out.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	It occurs in the privately owned Reserva La Planada in Colombia, and could be in the binational reserve near Planada. Surveys are urgently needed to determine whether or not this species still survives, and, if necessary, an ex-situ captive population should be established.

Conservation Actions:

It occurs in the privately owned Reserva La Planada in Colombia, and could be in the binational reserve near Planada. Surveys are urgently needed to determine whether or not this species still survives, and, if necessary, an ex-situ captive population should be established.

Citation:	Wilmar Bolívar, Luis A. Coloma, Santiago Ron, Diego Cisneros-Heredia, Erik Wild 2004. Centrolene ballux. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 26 May 2013.
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