Monitoring the distribution of Neurergus kaiseri and identifying priority areas for conservation in Lorestan Province, Iran

• Forschungsstelle: BLV
• Projektnummer: 3.15.01
• Projekttitel Englisch: Monitoring the distribution of Neurergus kaiseri and identifying priority areas for conservation in Lorestan Province, Iran

Kurzbeschreibung (Deutsch)

Mailbeschrieb M. Lörtscher: Es geht um die Erhebung von biologischen Daten zu einem Molch, welcher immer wieder im internationalen Handel angeboten wird, so auch in der Schweiz. Leider sind die biologischen Daten zu dieser Art nur fragmentär und es wäre gut hier Abhilfe zu schaffen. Mit dem bescheidenen Betrag von CHF 4‘200 könnte man da etwas Gutes unterstützen.

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

Luristan Newt or Kaiser's Mountain Newt Neurergus kaiseri is endemic to the southern Zagros mountains, Iran. Its known range is restricted to about 10 km2 with just four streams in one single catchment area (Sharifi et al. 2009). Neurergus kaiseri is one of the most colorful species in the Salamandridae family. This fact has led to a high demand for this species in international pet trade. Collection of this species is prohibited under Iranian law and export is illegal. However, it has been found for sale in markets in Iran and larger numbers of specimens collected in the wild appeared on the international market. The species is traded in various European countries as well as in USA and Japan. Only one dealer in Ukraine traded more than 500 wild-caught specimens between 2005 and 2010 (Traffic 2006, Stone 2010) Neurergus kaiseri was assessed as Critically Endangered by IUCN in 2008. Available information indicates a population decline of more than 80% and less than 1000 mature individuals remaining (Sharifi et al. 2009). Main causes for this decline are illegal collection for pet trade and habitat destruction. This situation led to a proposal by Iran to include this species in Appendix I of CITES in 2010. This proposal was adopted at the CITES conference of the parties in Doha in 2010. The aim of this project is to identify distribution areas of Neurergus kaiseri in Lorestan province in Iran for conservation planning and management. Besides checking known sites of occurrence the project includes searches for appropriate new sites and checking sites where the species is supposed to occur but not yet confirmed. Additionally, options for involving local people in the protection of the species will be evaluated, and an information brochure for local distribution will be produced.

Projektziele (Englisch)

• Identifying distribution areas of Neurergus kaiseri in Lorestan province

• Gap Analysis in the protected area network

• Conservation Planning

Publikationen / Ergebnisse (Englisch)

Zugehörige Dokumente

• IJAE-Neurergus.Kaiseri [PDF] 637 kB
• Lorestan.Newt.Poject.Report2017_Final [PDF] 126 kB
• newt brochure [PDF] 897 kB

URL-Adressen (Deutsch)

3.15.01 Molch Neurergus kaiseri (063-498/5/1)