Assessment Results
Ichthyophis beddomei
Beddome's Caecilian, Yellow-striped Caecilian
Order:
Gymnophiona
Family:
Ichthyophiidae
Synonym(s):
Assessed for:
India
on:
10 Sep 2020
by:
AArk/ASG India Assessment Workshop
Authors:
Venu Govindappa, Dave Gower and Ramachandran Kotharambath
IUCN Global Red List:
Least Concern (LC)
National Red List:
(not assessed)
Distribution:
India
Evolutionary Distinctiveness score:
23.55855885
Recommended Conservation Actions:
Additional Comments:
Listed in Gupta et al (2015) as a species for husbandry capacity-building at Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, Mysore.
| Question # | Short Name | Question Text | Response | Comments |
| 1 | Extinction risk | Current IUCN Red List category. [Data obtained from the IUCN Red List.] | Least Concern (LC) | |
| 2 | Possibly extinct | Is there a strong possibility that this species might be extinct in the wild? | No / unlikely | |
| 3 | Phylogenetic significance | The taxon’s Evolutionary Distinctiveness (ED) score, as generated by the ZSL EDGE program. (These data are not editable by Assessors). | ED value 20 - 50 | |
| 4 | Protected habitat | Is a population of at least 50% of the individuals of the taxon included within a well-managed or reliably protected area or areas? | Unknown | This species is endemic to the southern Western Ghats in India, in the states of Tamil Nadu, and Kerala in India. The range map shows the distribution of specimens currently identified as Ichthyophis beddomei; further investigation of these specimens is required to determine the range of this species more accurately. The records from Wayanad district and adjacent areas in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are most likely to be this species, and records reported from south of the Palghat Gap and in Maharashtra, Karnataka and adjacent areas need confirmation (Ramachandran Kotharambath, pers. comm. September 2020). It probably occurs in several protected areas. It ranges between 600 m asl (Purushotham and Tapley 2011) and 1,200 m asl (Sajjan et al. 2017). |
| 5 | Habitat for reintroduction, conservation translocation or supplementation | Does enough well-managed and reliably protected habitat exist, either within or outside of currently protected areas that is suitable for conservation translocation, including population restoration or conservation introduction? | Yes / probably | |
| 6 | Previous reintroductions | Have reintroduction or translocation attempts been made in the past for this species? | No | |
| 7 | In situ conservation activities | Are any in situ conservation actions currently in place for this species? (Only required if a Red List Assessment has not been completed, or if new actions have been implemented since the last Red List Assessment. (Information from the Conservation Actions section of the Red List assessment should be reviewed and considered when answering this question.). | Yes / probably | It probably occurs in several protected areas, including the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, where records have been found in adjacent areas (Ramachandran Kotharambath, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 8 | In situ conservation activities | Are additional in situ conservation actions required to help conserve this species in the wild (e.g. habitat restoration and/or protection, control of invasive species, national legislation etc.)? | Yes / probably | |
| 9 | In situ research | Is additional in situ research required to better understand the species, e.g. distribution, population trends, natural history etc.? | Yes | Further research needed taxonomy, distribution, population and threats. |
| 10 | Threat mitigation | Are the threats facing the taxon, including any new and emerging threats not considered in the IUCN Red List, potentially reversible? | Threats unlikely to be reversed in time to prevent further decline / extinction | This species has been found in a number of banana, tea and coffee plantations, and other low intensity agricultural areas, as well as surrounding forests (Ramachandran Kotharambath, pers. comm. September 2020). Severe habitat destruction is said to be a potential threat to local populations, but this species appears to be reasonably adaptable and is probably not significantly threatened, although the use of agrochemicals could potentially be a significant threat. Colour and eye anomalies have been seen in caecilians collected from estates where there is excessive usage of agrochemicals (Venu Govindappa, pers. comm. September 2020). Many additional potential threats have been suggested, including the development of house and tourist resorts along with the removal of natural vegetation and the introduction of exotic plant and tree species (Ramachandran Kotharambath, pers. comm. September 2020) and change in soil chemistry, collection of humus and leaf litter, but all these require further investigation, and cannot be confirmed at present. It is unlikely that these threats could potentially be reversed outside of the protected areas (Ramachandran Kotharambath, pers. comm. September 2020). It is considered to be fairly adaptable to habitat disturbance (Ramachandran Kotharambath, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 11 | Over-collection from the wild | Is the taxon suffering from collection within its natural range, either for food, for the pet trade or for any other reason, which threatens the species’ continued persistence in the wild? | No / unlikely | |
| 12 | Population recovery | Is the known population of this species in the wild large enough to recover naturally, without ex situ intervention if threats are mitigated? | Yes / probably | At places within its range it appears to be locally abundant, and is probably one of the most abundant species in the Western Ghats (Venu Govindappa and Ramachandran Kotharambath, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 13 | Action plans | Does an Action Plan for the species already exist, or is one currently being developed? | No | |
| 14 | Biological distinctiveness | Does the taxon exhibit a distinctive reproductive mode, behaviour, aspect of morphology or physiology, within the Order to which it belongs (e.g. Anura, Passeriformes etc.)? | No aspect of biology known to be exceptional | |
| 15 | Cultural/socio-economic importance | Does the taxon have a special human cultural value (e.g. as a national or regional symbol, in a historic context, featuring in traditional stories) or economic value (e.g. food, traditional medicine, tourism) within its natural range or in a wider global context? | Yes | In the past, some people considered this to be a snake, and they are sometimes killed because of this (Ramachandran Kotharambath and David Gower, pers. comm. September 2020). After recent newspaper articles about the species this misconception has been predominantly addressed (Varad Bhagwan Giri, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 16 | Scientific importance | Is the species vital to current or planned research other than species-specific ecology/biology/conservation within the Order to which it belongs (e.g. Anura, Passeriformes etc.) e.g. human medicine, climate change, environmental pollutants and conservation science? | No research dependent on this species | |
| 17 | Ex situ research | Does conserving this species (or closely related species) in situ depend upon research that can be most easily carried out ex situ? | No | |
| 18 | Ex situ conservation activities | Is any ex situ research or other ex situ conservation action currently in place for this species? (Information from the Conservation Actions section of the Red List assessment should be reviewed and considered when answering this question.) | No / unlikely | |
| 19 | Husbandry analog required | If an ex situ rescue program is recommended for this species, would an analog species be required to develop husbandry protocols first? | No / unlikely | |
| 20 | Husbandry analog | Do the biological and ecological attributes of this species make it suitable for developing husbandry regimes for more threatened related species? i.e. could this species be used in captivity to help to develop husbandry and breeding protocols which could be used for a similar, but more endangered species at a later stage? | Yes | This could potentially be one of the best analogs for the genus, since it is the most abundant caecilian in the Western Ghats (Venu Govindappa, pers. comm. September 2020). |
| 21 | Captive breeding | Has this species been successfully bred and/or maintained in captivity? | Not held in captivity to date | |
| 22 | Conservation education/ecotourism potential | Is the species especially diurnal, active or colourful, or is there an interesting or unusual aspect of its ecology that make it particularly suitable to be an educational ambassador for conservation of the species in the range country, either in zoos or aquariums or within ecotourism activities? | No | |
| 23 | Mandate | Is there an existing conservation mandate recommending the ex situ conservation of this taxon? | No | |
| 24 | Range State approval | If an ex situ initiative was proposed for this species, would it be supported (and approved) by the range State (either within the range State or out-of-country ex situ)? | Yes / probably | |
| 25 | Founder specimens | Are sufficient animals of the taxon available or potentially available (from wild or captive sources) to initiate an ex situ program, if one was recommended? | Yes / probably | |
| 26 | Taxonomic status | Has a complete taxonomic analysis of the species in the wild been carried out, to fully understand the functional unit you wish to conserve (i.e. have species limits been determined)? | No | Research into species validity needs to be prioritised. This is a poorly circumscribed species in need of taxonomic review (M. Wilkinson pers. comm., Ramachandran Kotharambath, pers. comm. September 2020). |
Citation:
Venu Govindappa, Dave Gower and Ramachandran Kotharambath 2020. Conservation Needs Assessment for Ichthyophis beddomei, India
(AArk/ASG India Assessment Workshop).
https://www.conservationneeds.org/assessment/5490
Accessed 14 May 2024
