Partnerships between private landowners and conservationists to protect one of the most evolutionarily distinct amphibians

Wildlife conservation on private land is an important and growing approach to protecting biodiversity and can help contribute to the Global Biodiversity Framework’s 30 by 30 target. In 2018, a Chilean non-profit conservation organisation launched a pioneering land conservation programme aiming to build long-term partnerships with private landowners to protect critical habitat for threatened amphibians in Chilean Patagonia. Here, we describe a new locality record of the microendemic and Endangered Barrio’s frog (Insuetophrynus acarpicus) found at a site that joined this programme in 2020. The Barrio’s frog is ranked No. 10 in the list of evolutionary distinct, globally endangered amphibians. Unfortunately, as evidenced by our systematic literature search, most aspects of the species’ natural history and ecology remain unknown, limiting our ability to provide actionable science to inform its conservation. The newly described Barrio’s frog population represents the eighth known locality of this species and one of only three occurring within a protected area. Habitat quality assessments indicated optimal conditions for most of the measured habitat parameters in the high-gradient stream where the species was found. This case study highlights that long-term partnerships between private landowners and conservationists can be used as an effective tool to protect the habitat of highly threatened amphibians