440 Conservation news
Village to flat, downstream areas of Long Beleh Village. The Soil, , –). Pithecopus ayeaye is categorized on the elevation range of the surveyed areas was – m. Despite IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered, and Pithecopus these searches, which included the likely type locality described centralis, Pithecopus megacephalus and Pithecopus oreades as on herbarium specimens, we did not locate V. pentandra. Data Deficient. However, on the Brazilian Red List these spe- We believe that extensive loss of forests, to oil palm plan- cies are categorized as Least Concern, except for P. centralis, tations and coal mining, is the most likely reason for our which is categorized as Near Threatened. Being endemic, failure to relocate V. pentandra. In addition, forestry com- the global and national Red List categorizations for these four panies are extracting timber from forests along the Be- species should be identical. To rectify this, and to resolve un- layan River. With these forests greatly reduced and frag- certainties regarding geographical distributions and species mented, the areas we surveyed are some of the last remain- delimitations, we obtained a research grant from the Criti- ing forested areas along this river. cal Ecosystem Partnership Fund, implemented by Instituto Although we recommend further surveys for V. pentan- Internacional de Educação do Brasil (International Education dra, especially in upstream areas of Belayan River, in the Institute of Brazil) to () investigate the species’ geographical northern Tabang Regency where forests are still in relatively distribution, through fieldwork, () delimit species using ge- good condition, we are able to update the conservation as- nomic tools, () refine the species’ Red List assessments, ()char- sessment of this species. Based on the findings of our survey, acterize larval ecological requirements and () assess the impacts we reassess V. pentandra as Critically Endangered based on of water contaminants and landscape degradation on the criteria Acd; i.e. with more than % suspected population species. reduction in the last three generations (A) based on a We conducted fieldwork during October –February decline in area of occupancy, extent of occurrence and/or , searching for the species in locations identified habitat quality (c), and potential level of exploitation (d). through a combination of ecological niche modelling and The forests of Kalimantan continue to be affected by conver- predictive distribution mapping (Silva & Alves-Silva, , sion and degradation, and our updated assessment of this Zootaxa, , –). We recorded one new location endemic tree species is an urgent call for the conservation for P. megacephalus, four for P. ayeaye, and for P. oreades, of this and the other species of these forests. and located new populations that need further work for taxonomic assignment. Once this has been completed, we JEAN LINSKY ( orcid.org/0000-0002-3657-9283) Botanic will be able to prioritize populations (for proposals of Gardens Conservation International, Richmond, Surrey, UK new private reserves), update Red List categorizations, and E-mail [email protected] define priority areas for conservation. In addition to sup- port from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund and IYAN ROBIANSYAH ( orcid.org/0000-0002-0503-458X), Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil, this project, ENGGAL PRIMANANDA and DIPTA SUMERU RINANDIO Research which will finish at the end of , involves a partner- Center for Plant Conservation and Botanic Gardens, ship between one non-governmental organization, five Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Bogor, Indonesia Brazilian universities, and several researchers, students and managers. Conserving the poorly known and threatened RAFAEL MAGALHÃES ( orcid.org/0000-0002-2059-1288) and monkey-frogs of the Brazilian Cerrado highlands H. FÁTIMA GORGULHO ( orcid.org/0000-0002-9557-6808) Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei, São João del Rei, Amphibians are the most threatened vertebrate group, with Brazil at least % of species categorized as threatened (The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, v. -, iucnredlist.org). Of SILVANA CAMPELLO ( orcid.org/0000-0003-1298-6279) these, % are categorized using geographical distribution Instituto Araguaia de Proteção Ambiental, Caseara, Brazil criteria (B or B,orD for Vulnerable). These are also the criteria most commonly used for Amphibia in Brazil (ICMBio, FABRÍCIUS DOMINGOS ( orcid.org/0000-0003-2069-9317) , Livro Vermelho da Fauna Brasileira Ameaçada de Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil Extinção). Therefore, adequate knowledge of geographical distributions and valid taxonomy are essential for accurate IASODHARA FREIRE ( orcid.org/0000-0002-4816-1669), species categorization. CAROLINE OSWALD ( orcid.org/0000-0001-6866-9585), The genus Pithecopus (Phyllomedusidae) comprises DANIELA SANTOS ( orcid.org/0000-0002-3753-0801), species, of which four are endemic to the highlands of the TIAGO PEZZUTI ( orcid.org/0000-0002-1162-3954) and Brazilian Cerrado. They mainly occur in environments threat- FABRÍCIO SANTOS ( orcid.org/0000-0001-9088-1750) ened by habitat loss caused by mining, silviculture, livestock, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, fires and unsustainable tourism (Silveira et al., , Plant and Brazil
Oryx, 2020, 54(4), 439–442 © 2020 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605320000241 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.229, on 01 Oct 2021 at 11:13:14, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605320000241 Conservation news 441
PRISCILA LEMES ( orcid.org/0000-0002-0918-5158) and Two of the three black-billed parrots caught by hunters CHRISTINE STRÜSSMANN*( orcid.org/0000-0001-9880-9489) in appear to be hybridized with the Puerto Rican parrot Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Brazil Amazona vittata. The hunting season also marked the first observation by the hunters, in the years since the MARIA COELHO ( orcid.org/0000-0002-4430-6111), eldest living hunter began hunting, of the Near Threatened GUARINO COLLI*( orcid.org/0000-0002-2628-5652), plain pigeon Patagioenas inornata. This reinvigorates on- ANA DEL PRETTE ( orcid.org/0000-0001-6908-5020), going debates around the possible migration of the Puerto BEATRIZ VASCONCELOS ( orcid.org/0000-0003-0101-8969) and Rican subspecies of the plain pigeon to Jamaica, where REUBER BRANDÃO*( orcid.org/0000-0003-3940-2544) some scholars and conservationists believe it may be being Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil misidentified as the Jamaican subspecies. The two hybri- E-mail [email protected] dized black-billed parrots may be emerging evidence of non-migrant species from neighbouring Caribbean islands *Also at: Brazilian Red List Authority group, supported by arriving in Cockpit Country. There are plans for research to the National Center for Reptiles and Amphibians Research investigate this, using GPS tracking. Any increased competi- and Conservation, Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity tion from such arrivals could become an additional threat Conservation, Brasília, Brazil to the black-billed parrot. Currently known threats to the black-billed parrot in- clude nest depredation by the Jamaican boa Chilabothrus subflavus. But, as part of a community-based conservation New and increasing threats may have significant project conducted by the authors, camera traps installed impact on Jamaica's black-billed parrot Amazona in previously unmapped areas of the forest interior have agilis recorded feral cats, black rats and mongooses. These small mammals could also be potentially responsible for black- The black-billed parrot Amazona agilis, currently categor- billed parrot nest predation, particularly in the forest inter- ized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, is endemic to ior, where the black-billed parrot breeds. Jamaica, with an estimated % of its population believed to reside in Cockpit Country. Cockpit Country is a dense, ROBERT CAWLEY,CORNELL WRIGHT,ORAL WHITE and montane, tropical forest in the west-central uplands of the DONNELL ROWE Accompong Maroon Town, St Elizabeth, island, with high levels of endemism, and traditional and Jamaica Indigenous communities living on the periphery. There have been few studies—none recent—of the distribution LYDIA GIBSON ( orcid.org/0000-0003-3883-8485) and abundance of the area’s extant species owing to the Department of Anthropology, University College London, density of the forest, its remoteness, and the largely unnav- London, UK. E-mail [email protected] igable terrain, particularly in the forest reserve. Recent research explored the catch yields of traditional parrot hunting in Cockpit Country (Gibson, , Journal of The Whitley Awards 2020 Ethnobiology, in press). Statistics for the and hunt- ing seasons (July–September) suggest a significant decline in The Whitley Fund for Nature has announced the six conser- the black-billed parrot population, with the total take , %of vation leaders, from six different countries, receiving a that of the yellow-billed parrot Amazona collaria,alsoendem- Whitley Award of GBP , each in year of project fund- ic to Jamaica. There are, however, limitations to this study. ing. In addition, the Whitley Gold Award of GBP , was Yellow-billed parrots were used more extensively as lures dur- presented to Whitley Award winner Patricia Medici of ing hunts than were black-billed parrots, which could account Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (Institute for Ecological for the differences in total takes. Large flocks of black-billed Research), Brazil, for her work to conserve the lowland parrots have been reported by Indigenous communities in tapir in the Atlantic Forest, Pantanal, Cerrado and Amazon fruit trees around villages, months after the hunting season. biomes. In light of the COVID- pandemic, the Whitley Such spatial and temporal changes in distribution may be a Awards Ceremony, the flagship event of the UK-based char- response to diminishing food sources within the forest inter- ity, has been postponed until later in the year. ior, where parrot hunting is traditionally practiced. Although The Whitley Award Winners are Abdullahi Hus- more research is needed to determine the distribution and sein Ali, Kenya (A landscape-level approach to conserve abundance of the black-billed parrot, a number of emerging the hirola antelope); Gabriela Rezende, Brazil (Connecting and increasing threats could place more pressure on this spe- populations of black lion tamarins in the Atlantic Forest); cies, which is a habitat specialist, than on its wider-ranging Phuntsho Thinley, Bhutan (Stepping up patrols to preserve congener. the Endangered alpine musk deer); Jeanne Tarrant, South
Oryx, 2020, 54(4), 439–442 © 2020 The Author(s) doi:10.1017/S0030605320000290 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.229, on 01 Oct 2021 at 11:13:14, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605320000241