MAIISG

Assessment Rationale:

This species is endemic to the Azores Islands (Portugal), where it is restricted to the Island of Terceira, and found at a single location at the Caldeira de Santa Barbara. It is listed as protected by the regional government of the Azores Islands. The site where the species occurs is designated as a protected area, and hence the most likely threat, habitat degradation, is likely to be insignificant. The species is currently assessed as Near Threatened (NT), based on its occurrence at a single location and its restricted extent of occurrence (EOO), and should threats to the habitat or population arise, then the species would immediately become threatened. Monitoring is required to for the population and the distribution of the species, as well as to control for any impact from non-native species. 

Geographic Range:

This species is endemic to the Azores Islands (Portugal), where it is restricted to the Island of Terceira. It is found at a single locality at the Caldeira de Santa Barbara, western region of Concelho de Angra do Heroismo (Frias Martins 1989, Cunha et al. 2005, Frias Martins 2008, Atlas data, Cunha et al. 2010).

Population:

There are insufficient data to estimate the total population size. The species however, has a restricted range on a single island, hence it can be speculated that the population is relatively small.

Current Population Trend: Unknown 

Habitat and Ecology

The species is found on mountain regions, on cedar and Laurus forests, associated to leaf litter or semiburied in humus (Frias Martins 1989).

Systems: Terrestrial 

Major Threat(s):

The site falls into a protected area, then the threats to the species from habitat degradation are likely to be insignificant. 

Conservation Actions

This species is listed as protected by the regional government of the Azores Islands. The main site is already designated as a protected area. Monitoring is required to establish any distribution changes to this species and any impact from non-native species.