10 Amphib. Reptile Conserv. February 2020 | Volume 14 | Number 1 | e219 Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 14(1) [General Section]: 10–21 (e219). Climatic niche, natural history, and conservation status of the Porthole Treefrog, Charadrahyla taeniopus (Günther, 1901) (Anura: Hylidae) in Mexico 1 Raciel Cruz-Elizalde, 2 Itzel Magno-Benítez, 3 Christian Berriozabal-Islas, 2 Raúl Ortíz-Pulido, 2, *Aurelio Ramírez-Bautista, and 4 Raquel Hernández-Austria 1 Museo de Zoología “Alfonso L. Herrera”, Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). A.P. 70-399, Ciudad de México CP 04510, MÉXICO 2 Laboratorio de Ecología de Poblaciones, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Instituto de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Km 4.5 carretera Pachuca-Tulancingo, 42184, Mineral de La Reforma, Hidalgo, MÉXICO 3 Programa Educativo de Ingeniería en Biotecnología. Universidad Politécnica de Quintana Roo. Av. Arco Bicentenario, M 11, Lote 1119-33, Sm 255, 77500 Cancún, Quintana Roo, MÉXICO 4 Departamento de Zoología, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-153, 04510 Ciudad de México, MÉXICO Abstract.—Amphibian species of the family Hylidae exhibit a high degree of endemism in Mexico. To better understand ongoing declines of many amphibian populations, especially for endemic species that are particularly vulnerable to extinction, information on diverse aspects of their biological makeup is required, including their ecology. This study provides an analysis of the distribution, natural history, feeding habits, reproduction, morphology, and conservation status of Charadrahyla taeniopus, a species endemic to central Mexico. The distribution of this species extends along the Sierra Madre Oriental, primarily in cloud forest. Based on changes in climatic niche, decreases of 14.14% and 37% of its distributional range are predicted to occur by the years 2050 and 2070, respectively. An examination of the stomach contents from 31 adults and two juveniles revealed plant materials and arthropods as major parts of their diet. Charadrahyla taeniopus is sexually dimorphic in size. Females were larger than males, and after correcting for body size, females had larger jaws than males. Based on guidelines proposed by national legislation (NOM-059), we propose that this species should continue to be classified as Threatened. Further studies are necessary to classify it in a high conservation category by international legislation (IUCN) guidelines, due to the high vulnerability indicated by the Environmental Vulnerability Score, which is caused by an accelerated loss of habitat. Charadrahyla taeniopus is a good model for analyzing the conservation status of hylid frogs from temperate areas and in highly transformed environments, as this species exemplifies the conservation status of endemic amphibians in central Mexico. Keywords. Amphibians, Central America, cloud forest, diet, morphology, reproduction Citation: Cruz-Elizalde R, Magno-Benítez I, Berriozabal-Islas C, Ortíz-Pulido R, Ramírez-Bautista A, Hernández-Austria R. 2020. Climatic niche, natural history, and conservation status of the Porthole Treefrog, Charadrahyla taeniopus (Günther, 1901) (Anura: Hylidae) in Mexico. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 14(1) [General Section]: 10–21 (e219). Copyright: © 2020 Cruz-Elizalde et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License [At- tribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/], which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The official and authorized publication credit sources, which will be duly enforced, are as follows: official journal title Amphibian & Reptile Conservation; official journal website: amphibian-reptile-conservation.org. Received: 24 October 2018; Accepted: 16 March 2019; Published: 11 February 2020 Official journal website: amphibian-reptile-conservation.org Introduction Scientists are concerned about the worldwide decline of amphibians associated with habitat degradation (Delia et al. 2013; Wilson et al. 2013), which is caused by a variety of factors, including shifts in land use, increased pollution, and the splitting and fragmentation of habitat (Becker et al. 2007; Ochoa-Ochoa et al. 2009; Cruz- Elizalde et al. 2015). As a result, many species are globally threatened (Lips et al. 2004; Ochoa-Ochoa et al. 2009) by human activities that are destroying habitat, leading to population decline, extirpation, or even species extinction (Delia et al. 2013). The creation of regulations and laws at national and international levels, and resources such as the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), have been important tools for the conservation and management of biodiversity (Wilson et al. 2013). In Mexico, flora and fauna are protected by the NOM- 059, a regulation that provides a way to evaluate the threat level or conservation status of species through a nationally-recognized method: the Método de Evaluación del Riesgo de Extinción de las Especies Silvestres en México (method for evaluation of the extinction risk of wild species, MER; DOF 2010). MER has been used to evaluate the conservation status of diverse plant taxa, Correspondence. *ramibautistaa@gmail.com