IUCN Red List Category: CR D (Published 2013-07-14)
2013-07-14 00:00:00 UTC
Animalia | Chordata | Vertebrata | Amphibia | Anura | Craugastoridae | Craugastor | Craugastor gulosus |
Taxonomic notes: This species was previously included in the genus Eleutherodactylus (Crawford and Smith 2005). The rediscovery of this species in 1976 showed it to be a largely montane frog, occupying an apparently small range in the borderland of Costa Rica and Panama (Savage and Myers 2002).
This species can be found in the southern Cordillera de Talamanca of Costa Rica and western Panama, at elevations of 1,000-1,873 m asl (Savage 2002). Its range, taken as a proxy for extent of occurrence (EOO), is estimated at 3,520 km2.
It inhabits humid premontane forest. Little is known about the species’ biology, but it is presumed to breed by direct development.
It is generally a rare species. In Costa Rica, there is no information on this species after it was collected in the 19th century, despite annual sampling excursions within Talamanca since 2007 (G. Chaves and A. García pers. comm. 2013). In Panama, there have been several recent efforts to sample amphibians within the range of this species, but C. gulosus was not recorded (Hertz et al. 2012). Populations discovered in the 1970s and 1980s in the Río Chiriquí Valley of Panama may have been impacted by the construction of the Fortuna Dam (Savage and Myers 2002).
The main threat is general habitat loss primarily due to agriculture, ranching, and logging in parts of its range in Panama.
The species has been recorded from the protected areas of Parque Internacional La Amistad and the Reserva Forestal Fortuna. Further research is needed into current threats, the range, and natural history of this species.
Listed as Critically Endangered because, given recent survey efforts and lack of records, it is inferred that it is either possibly extinct or if there is still an extant population, that it is very small (<50 mature individuals). However, additional sampling effort is needed before it can be declared Extinct or re-assessed under a different criterion.
Comentarios