From the IUCN Red List Species Account:

Range Description

This species is known only from the Atlantic slopes of the Sierra Madre Oriental in central Veracruz close to Teziutlán, at the border with the state of Puebla, Mexico. The type locality is at 1,600m asl.

Habitat and Ecology

It inhabits streams and bushes in cloud forest, and presumably breeds in streams.

Population

This species has not been collected since it was first described, and is most likely a rare species.

Population Trend

decreasing

Major Threats

There is high pressure from infrastructure development for human settlements, and other anthropogenic activities in this region, and alteration of the original forest cover is resulting in the disappearance of streams and other water systems required for the survival of this species. Chytridiomycosis might also be a threat to this species, since it is a high-elevation stream-dweller, and declines due to the disease have already been detected amongst other species of this genus.

Conservation Actions

This species is not known to occur within any protected area. A specific survey to evaluate the conservation status of the cloud forest areas in the Huasteca region in Mexico is required, and a programme to restore and protect this area is important to conserve this and other amphibian species. It is a very high priority to relocate this species and determine its current population status; in view of the threat of chytridiomycosis, surviving individuals might need to form the basis for the establishment of a captive-breeding programme. This species is protected by Mexican law under the "Special Protection" category (Pr).

Red List Status

Critically Endangered (CR)

Rationale

Listed as Critically Endangered because its Extent of Occurrence is less than 100km2, it is only known from a single location, and there is continuing decline in the extent and quality of its cloud forest habitat in central Veracruz, Mexico.

Taxonomic Notes

This species was previously included in the genus Hyla but has recently been moved to the genus Plectrohyla (Faivovich et al. 2005).

Citation

Georgina Santos-Barrera, Luis Canseco-Márquez 2004. Plectrohyla pachyderma. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2004: e.T55583A11322723. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T55583A11322723.en .Downloaded on 14 November 2018