Conservation Needs Assessment Summary

Indian Ocean Caecilian
(Hypogeophis larvatus)

Printable version Seychelles, Assessed 13 Nov 2018

Assessment details

It is likley that less than 50% of the individuals of this species are included within one or more well-managed or reliably protected areas.

It is unlikely that enough well-managed and reliably protected habitat exists, either within or outside of currently protected areas that is suitable for conservation translocation, including population restoration or conservation introduction.

All, or the majority of the population of the species in the wild is sufficiently protected to prevent further decline in numbers (e.g. the bulk of the population occurs in protected areas). Some of the populations of G. larvata exist in protected areas but the direct and associated threats posed by climate change and the potential introduction of novel pathogens (e.g. Bd, Bsal, Ranavirus) are a very real risk.

The known population of this species in the wild is large enough to recover naturally, without ex situ intervention if threats are mitigated.

The biological and ecological attributes of this species make it suitable for developing husbandry regimes for more threatened related species. Could be used as an analog for Hypogeophis brevis, H. pti, H. montanus and Praslinia cooperi.

This species has been maintained in captivity in the past but has not been successfully bred in captivity. Ronald Nussbaum kept them in captivity but never attempted to breed them

Sufficient animals are likely to be available or potentially available to initiate an ex situ program, if one was recommended.