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Isthmohyla rivularis

Status_ne_offStatus_dd_offStatus_lc_offStatus_nt_offStatus_vu_offStatus_en_offStatus_cr_onStatus_ew_offStatus_ex_off

Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
ANIMALIA CHORDATA AMPHIBIA ANURA HYLIDAE

Scientific Name: Isthmohyla rivularis
Species Authority: (Taylor, 1952)
Taxonomic Notes: This species was previously included in the genus Hyla but has recently been moved to the new genus Isthmohyla (Faivovich et al. 2005).

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria: Critically Endangered A2ace ver 3.1
Year Published: 2010
Assessor/s: Frank Solís, Roberto Ibáñez, Alan Pounds, Federico Bolaños, Gerardo Chaves, Karen Lips
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 ten years, inferred from the apparent disappearance of most of the population, perhaps due to chytridiomycosis.
History:
2004 Critically Endangered

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description: This species occurs on the slopes of the cordilleras (Tilarán, Central and Talamanca) of Costa Rica and adjacent western Panama, from 1,210-2,040 m asl (Savage 2002).
Countries:
Native:
Costa Rica; Panama
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population: In Costa Rica, it was presumed to have disappeared from Monteverde, Tapantí, and Las Tablas where it once was common. It was last seen in 1993 at Las Tablas and had apparently disappeared from Monteverde by 1989. As of August, 2007, even though some survey effort has taken place in the range there were not considered to be any other recent records from Costa Rica of this formerly common frog (Federico Bolaños pers. comm.). More recent news from Andrew Gray and Mark Wainwright (in litt. To Bruce Young, September 2007; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7609780.stm), reported the rediscovery of this species at the Tropical Science Center Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, with several males being heard. In Panama, there are records from the Bajo Mono highlands of Chiriquí in 1982, and from Las Tablas in the early 1990s, but it had disappeared from the latter site by 1996. There might not be any subsequent records, indicating a decline and possible disappearance in this country, too.
Population Trend: Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology: This species occurs along or in clear streams in lower and premontane rainforest. Males call at night from riparian bushes and herbaceous vegetation at the margin of or overhanging fast-moving mountain streams. Amplexus and egg deposition have not been observed in this species; tadpoles have been collected from streams.
Systems: Terrestrial; Freshwater

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s): The overall decline in this species is probably taking place as a result of infection of populations with the chytrid pathogen. Within Panama, it is threatened by general habitat loss through agriculture and selective logging.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions: The species has been recorded from a number of protected areas in both Costa Rica and Panama. Further research is urgently needed into the population status of this species. Given the threat of chytridiomycosis, recommended conservation measures likely should include the establishment of a captive-breeding programme.

Bibliography [top]

Duellman, W.E. 1970. The Hylid Frogs of Middle America. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, Lawrence, Kansas.

Duellman, W.E. 2001. The Hylid Frogs of Middle America. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Ithaca, New York, USA.

Faivovich, J., Haddad, C.F.B., Garcia, P.C.O., Frost, D.R., Campbell, J.A. and Wheeler, W.C. 2005. Systematic review of the frog family Hylidae, with special reference to Hylinae: Phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History: 1-240.

Ibáñez, R., Solís, F., Jaramillo, C. and Rand, S. 2000. An overview of the herpetology of Panama. In: Johnson, J.D., Webb, R.G. and Flores-Villela, O.A. (eds), Mesoamerican Herpetology: Systematics, Zoogeography and Conservation, pp. 159-170. The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas.

IUCN. 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2010.2). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 29 June 2010).

Lips, K.R. 1998. Decline of a tropical montane amphibian fauna. Conservation Biology: 106-117.

Morelle, R. 2008. World's 'rarest tree frog' found. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7609780.stm. (Accessed: Oct 28).

Myers, C.W. and Duellman, W.E. 1982. A new species of Hyla from Cerro Colorado, and other tree frog records and geographical notes from western Panama. American Museum Novitates: 1-32.

Pounds, J.A., Fogden, M.P.L., Savage, J.M. and Gorman, G.C. 1997. Tests of null models for amphibian declines on a tropical mountain. Conservation Biology: 1307-1322.

Savage, J.M. 2002. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna between two Continents, between two Seas. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Young, B., Sedaghatkish, G., Roca, E. and Fuenmayor, Q. 1999. El Estatus de la Conservación de la Herpetofauna de Panamá: Resumen del Primer Taller Internacional sobre la Herpetofauna de Panamá. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, Virginia.

Citation: Frank Solís, Roberto Ibáñez, Alan Pounds, Federico Bolaños, Gerardo Chaves, Karen Lips 2010. Isthmohyla rivularis. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 26 May 2013.
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