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| Tobago Glass Frog (Hyalinobatrachium orientale tobagoense). Photo by Renoir Auguste |
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a widely, credited source of species' conservation status across the world. Thousands of species have been assessed, many more (hundreds of) thousands are yet to. Trinidad and Tobago (currently) has 35 recognized species of amphibians, all Anurans or frogs and toads. All 35 species have been assessed on IUCN and their updated conservation status came out in the 2020 version 3 update. Local and international experts were consulted to provide information to assess each species.
From the new update, 30/35 (85%) species are listed as Least Concern, or not currently threatened with immediate extinction. One species is listed as Endangered, three as Vulnerable, and one Data Deficient.
The Endangered species is the golden tree frog (Phytotriades auratus). This species was previously listed as a Trinidad endemic frog and Critically Endangered, but the IUCN Amphibian SSC Group believes that its discovery in Venezuela warrants a lower threat level because of its wider distribution, despite its very restricted microhabitat.
The three Vulnerable species are all Tobago endemics: The Tobago stream frog (Mannophryne olmonae), Charlotteville litter frog (Pristimantis charlottevillensis), and Tobago glass frog (featured in photo above). The Vulnerable threat level was assigned given their restricted area of occupancy.
The one frog listed as Data Deficient, is the Tobago endemic Turpin's litter frog (Pristimantis turpinorum). Since its formal description in 2001, very little information is known about its biology, likely because of its very secretive habits, with too few specimens observed. This species is a prime example where research is needed to help provide much needed information about updating its conservation status, and prohibiting its potential extinction.
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| Turpin's litter frog (Pristimantis turpinorum). Photo by Renoir Auguste |
More work needs to be done, but at least provisional efforts have contributed to us knowing more about these important animals, some of which can be found nowhere else in the world.
Links to some of the species' IUCN status:
https://www.iucnredlist.org/
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