New publication: Conservation Needs Assessment workshop report for the genus Telmatobius
Experts from five countries assessed 60 Telmatobius species with the AArk Conservation Needs Assessment (CNA) tool. Thirty-one of them, 52% of the genus, urgently need ex situ rescue.
In 2019, researchers from several Chilean institutions rescued 14 malnourished Loa water frogs from their nearly dried-up habitat near Calama, Chile. One year later, 200 tadpoles hatched at Chile's National Zoo.
Around the same time, the Sehuencas water frog made headlines when Bolivian researchers found a mate for Romeo. Since 2009, Romeo, a lone male, had been thought to be the last of his species. In February 2026, the species surprised everyone again: a team of Bolivian scientists found a second wild population in a stream in Carrasco National Park.
You might have heard about them. Both frogs belong to Telmatobius, a genus with deep cultural meaning across the Andes, considered symbols of fertility, abundance, and representations of Mother Earth, or Pachamama (FrogLog 126, 2025).
These two species got the attention, the funding, and the emergency response they needed. But they are only two of 60 currently described Telmatobius species. Out of these, 55 are within the highest IUCN Red List threat categories: Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable.
Threatened habitats, threatened frogs
These frogs are adapted to unique conditions, including cold high-altitude streams and lakes and intense UV radiation. But those same conditions leave them with nowhere to go when their habitats are changing. Habitat loss, emerging diseases, and climate change, including increasingly frequent severe droughts, are draining the streams, bofedales, and lakes these aquatic and semi-aquatic frogs depend on.
So what can we do for them?
AArk's Conservation Needs Assessment tool
Amphibian Ark works closely with the Amphibian Red List Authority, facilitating Red List and CNA workshops jointly whenever possible. The IUCN Red List tells us the threat level of a species globally. AArk's CNA tool identifies immediate conservation actions at national or regional levels, considering also their feasibility.
While this tool is used specifically to identify the species that would most benefit from ex situ rescue, it includes other in situ and outreach recommendation options. CNA recommendations have been used as the basis for holistic conservation action plans that integrate in situ and ex situ measures.
Conservation Needs Assessment Workshop for Telmatobius
Between September and October 2025, Amphibian Ark and the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group brought together 48 biologists and experts from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru to assess all 60 species using the AArk Conservation Needs Assessment (CNA) tool.
The workshop was coordinated and organized with the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group coordinators in each of the five countries; it was designed and facilitated by Amphibian Ark through online sessions, except for Argentina, where an in-person session was held with the support and facilitation by Federico Kacoliris from Fundación Somuncura.
The result: 31 species, 52% of the genus, are in urgent need of an ex situ rescue program.
The assessments also found that:
- Seven species have both founders in the wild and protected habitat available, which makes them the most immediately actionable candidates for ex situ programs.
- Twelve species have founders available, but their habitat needs restoration or other types of protection before any translocation would be possible.
- Twenty species of Telmatobius have not been observed in more than two decades. They have not been declared extinct, and finding them is a priority in itself.
- Twenty-four species are good candidates for conservation education programs.
This new report details the species recommended for ex situ rescue, those recommended for husbandry research, and those recommended for conservation education programs.
Recommended citation: Carrillo, L.; Azat, C.; Vaira, M.; von May, R.; Castillo, L.; Ttito, A. and Cortez, C., eds. 2026. Conservation Needs Assessment Workshop Report for the genus Telmatobius. Amphibian Ark. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22809217
