Mountainous rainforests of South America support higher anuran microendemic diversity, but do not protect them properly

Abstract Previous studies have found that small-ranged South American anurans are concentrated along the main mountainous areas in the continent, but no study has systematically quantified how many and where these microendemic species are. This study aims to answer the following questions: (1) How many and who are the microendemic anurans in South America? (2) Where are concentrated the highest richness of microendemic anurans, and which are the main environmental predictors of such patterns? (3) What is the conservation status of the South American microendemic anurans? And (4) How much of a species’ distribution range is covered by legally protected areas? By using geographical information system procedures and generalized least squares regression models, I found 1555 microendemic anurans in South America, of which ~ 89% have ranges smaller than 5,000 km 2 and 50% of the total species have ranges smaller than 300 km 2 . Highest microendemic richness is found in mountainous tropical forests, mainly concentrated in the tropical Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, as well as mountainous areas in the southeastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Most microendemic species (58.13%) are classified in different threat categories. Approximately 50% of microendemics do not have at least 50% of their ranges inside protected areas, and 38.39% of the species do not occur in any protected area. All in all, these findings highlight an urgent need for the reassessment of the network of conservation areas considering the distribution of endangered microendemic species.