Yariguies Mountain Range (14451)
Colombia, South America

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Global KBA criteria: A1a, A1b, A1e, B1, B2

Year of last assessment: 2025

National site name: Serranía de los Yariguíes

Central coordinates: Latitude: 6.6512, Longitude: -73.5717

System: terrestrial, freshwater

Elevation (m): 200 to 3200

Area of KBA (km²): 5033.09815

Protected area coverage (%): 99.88

KBA classification: Global

Legacy site: Yes

Site details

Site description: The Yariguíes mountain range is located in the Santander department, on the western slope of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia. It is a vast area that harbors forests in very good conservation status, serving as a transition between the Magdalena River valley and the highlands of the eastern Colombian Andes. The Serranía comprises approximately 500,000 hectares, of which 38% remains untouched as primary forest, about 26% is used for crops such as corn, coffee, sugar, cocoa, tomato, and blackberry, and the remaining 35% consists of grasslands (Donegan et al. 2003a). There is continuous forest coverage throughout almost the entire mountainous area on the western slope and in the adjacent lowlands of the southwestern part of the Serranía, as observed in an aerial survey of the region (Donegan et al. 2004). Due to its significant biological importance and being one of the few well-preserved habitat remnants in this region of the country, there has been a recent increase in interest from the local community and the scientific community to protect the area.

Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site holds threatened and range-restricted species of different taxa as the birds Thryophilus nicefori and Coeligena prunellei that triggered A1, B1 and B2 crtieria; Macroagelaius subalaris which triggered the A1 and B2 criteria; Habia gutturalis, Pauxi pauxi and Odontophorus strophium that triggered only B2 criteria. Reptiles as Ptychoglossus bicolor and Atractus wagleri which triggered the B2 criteria. Also, the fish species as Astyanacinus yariguies that triggered the B1 criteria. And two species of amphibian that triggered A1, B1 and B2 criteria as Pristimantis bacchus and Bolitoglossa yariguiensis. This site also holds the only known populations of the tree species that trigger the A1e criteria, Magnolia betuliensis, Magnolia resupinatifolia, and Spirotheca mahechae.

Manageability of the site: Serranía de los Yariguíes Natural National Park is managed by Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia and RUNAP section due to most of this site occurs within protected areas.

Delineation rationale: This site was originally delineated and validated as an IBA/KBA by BirdLife in 2008. The original delineation rationale is not available. The revised delineation partially expands the boundary eastward to capture the known distribution of additional biodiversity trigger elements.

Habitats

IUCN Habitat	Coverage %	Habitat detail
Shrubland	5	Shrubland – Subtropical/tropical high altitude
Forest	30	Forest – Subtropical/tropical moist lowland
Forest	6	Forest – Subtropical/tropical moist montane

Threats

Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: Currently, deforestation and habitat alteration to enhance agricultural, livestock, and hunting activities are the most serious threats facing the site, especially in the lower parts of the mountain range (Donegan et al., 2003a, Donegan et al., 2004).

Threat level 1	Threat level 2	Threat level 3	Timing
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching	Agro-industry grazing, ranching or farming	Ongoing
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting	Intentional use: subsistence/small scale (species being assessed is the target) [harvest]	Ongoing
Biological resource use	Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Intentional use (species being assessed is the target)	Ongoing

Additional information