From the IUCN Red List Species Account:

Range Description

This species is known from Hacienda El Potrero, near the city of Córdoba, west-central Veracruz, Mexico. Its extent of occurrence (EOO) is 23 km².

Habitat and Ecology

The holotype was collected in tropical humid forest, and it is not known whether or not it can adapt to secondary habitats. It is terrestrial and presumably reproduces by direct development.

Population

This species is known only from the holotype. Several searches between 2010-2012, with an effort of 96 person hours having been performed by Eduardo Pineda and his group at INECOL but they have not found a single specimen. Due to ongoing decline in the extent and quality of habitat, the population is suspected to be decreasing if it is not already extinct.

Population Trend

decreasing

Major Threats

It is doubtful that any suitable habitat for this species survives. In the time since this species was discovered, Córdoba has undergone massive urban development and there has also been extensive agricultural expansion leading to forest loss and degradation.

Conservation Actions

Conservation Actions
This species has not been recorded in any protected areas. It is listed as "Threatened" (Amenazada) by the Mexican government.

Conservation Needed
Protection of the remaining habitat in the surroundings of Córdoba are needed.

Research Needed
Urgent fieldwork is needed in the vicinity of Córdoba to locate any habitats where this species might survive.

Red List Status

Critically Endangered (CR)

Rationale

Listed as Critically Endangered because its extent of occurrence (EOO) is 23 km², it occurs in one threat-defined location, and there is a continuing decline in the extent and quality of its habitat near the city of Córdoba, Veracruz. As the habitat is now so degraded and surveys have failed to record this species, it is thought to be Possibly Extinct.

Taxonomic Notes

This species was previously within the genus Pseudoeurycea but has recently been moved to the genus Aquiloeurycea (Rovito et al. 2015)

Citation

IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group 2016. Aquiloeurycea praecellens. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T59391A53983683. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T59391A53983683.en .Downloaded on 14 November 2018