Rediscovery of the Endangered Carchi Andean Toad, Rhaebo colomai (Hoogmoed, 1985), in Ecuador, with comments on its conservation status and extinction risk

Carolina Reyes-Puig,Hendrik Müller,Santiago R Ron,Jeffrey W Streicher,Francesca Nicole Angiolani Larrea,Gabriela B Bittencourt-Silva,Diego Francisco Cisneros-Heredia,Mark Wilkinson,Diego Almeida-Reinoso,Simon T Maddock,María Torres-Sánchez,Ramachandran Kotharambath

doi:10.15560/15.3.415

Abstract

Since 1984 there have been no records of Rhaebo colomai (Hoogmoed, 1985) within the territory of Ecuador. This species was known from 2 localities in the province of Carchi, northwestern Ecuador, and the department of Nariño, southwestern Colombia, which were reported in 1979 and 2015, respectively. We report the recent sightings of R. colomai at 3 new localities in Ecuador and discuss and evaluate this species’ extinction risk and conservation status.

Highlights

The Carchi Andean Toad, Rhaebo colomai (Hoogmoed, 1985), was described on the basis of a single adult female collected in 1984 at the headwaters of the River Baboso, near Lita, province of Carchi, Ecuador
We report the recent sightings of R. colomai at 3 new localities in Ecuador and discuss and evaluate this species’ extinction risk and conservation status
This population had been overlooked because it was previously reported as Rhaebo olallai (Hoogmoed, 1985) by Murillo-Pacheco et al (2005). Assigning this population to R. colomai extended the known geographic range of the species to Colombia, approximately 40 km north from Chical. Since it was last seen in Ecuador in 1984, R. colomai was classified as Critically Endangered and Possibly Extinct by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Coloma et al 2004), but was categorized as Endangered in the most recent evaluation (IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group 2018)

Summary

Introduction

The Carchi Andean Toad, Rhaebo colomai (Hoogmoed, 1985), was described on the basis of a single adult female collected in 1984 at the headwaters of the River Baboso, near Lita, province of Carchi, Ecuador. This species was only known from 2 localities at the River Baboso and Chical, both located on the Andean slopes of northern Ecuador, about 30 km apart in a straight line This species remained known only from Ecuador until Ron et al (2015) reported 6 males and 3 females from a population from the Reserva Natural Río Ñambi, department of Nariño, Colombia. This population had been overlooked because it was previously reported as Rhaebo olallai (Hoogmoed, 1985) by Murillo-Pacheco et al (2005) Assigning this population to R. colomai extended the known geographic range of the species to Colombia, approximately 40 km north from Chical (specimens deposited in the Herpetology Collection at Universidad de Nariño,). We report the recent observation of adult males, adult females, and juveniles of R. colomai at 3 new localities in Ecuador and discuss its extinction risk and conservation status

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Conclusion