Assessment Rationale:

This species is rare, being restricted to the laurisilva zone, with a small area of occupancy below the threshold of 100 km², with fewer than 10 known localities and possible degradation of habitat with changing humidity conditions and ageing trees in the laurisilva zone. In addition there is the possible disturbance from fire, and rainstorms based on recent events on the island (Seddon and Abreu, pers. comm., 2010). As such, the species has been assessed as Vulnerable (VU) B2ab(iii).
The previous assessment for this species was Conservation Dependant, as it occurred with Natural Park regions. This category has now been removed from the IUCN Red List categories, so the species reverts to Vulnerable.

Geographic Range:

This species is endemic to the Madeiran islands, it is only found at intermediate elevations in the Laurisilva forest of central Madeira, on the southern valleys only at the extreme end of Ribeira do Santa Lucia and below Pico Arreiro, on the northern valleys and other scattered locations (Seddon 2008). It has a restricted extent of occurrence of 300 km2 and is known from six locations (Seddon, pers. comm., 2010).

Population:

There is insufficient data to obtain population trends.

Habitat and Ecology

This species is mainly found on the tree trunks of large Laurisilva trees (Seddon 2008).

Major Threat(s):

The species lives on mature trees and so there is a possible risk due to ageing trees in the laurisilva zone (Cameron, pers. comm., 2010). The major threats are the loss of the large trees and the lack of regeneration of large trees and in recent years, there have been major storm events that have the potential to damage large trees (Seddon and Abreu, pers. comm., 2010), so if these events increase in frequency, it may impact this species. Other possible threats include degradation of habitat with changing humidity conditions (off-take of water and changing climatic patterns) and possible disturbance from fire.

Conservation Actions

Part of the range falls within a designated protected area, however there are no known actions for this species. Conservation actions include habitat monitoring for indication of population trends and forest management to ensure presence of large trees is maintained.