The Adeffa Association carries out a maintenance project for the species Macromia splendens and Galemys pyrenaicus.

The Adeffa Association has launched the project “Macromia splendens and Galemys pyrenaicus, contribution to the knowledge of biology, ex situ maintenance and captive breeding” with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment.

Both the populations of Macromis splendens and Iberian desman (Galemys pyrenaicus) are in clear recession and present a problem of fractionation of populations at the national level. The project studies the biology, management and maintenance of ex situ and breeding to establish a methodological basis that can be used for in situ and ex situ conservation programs of both species. Macromis splendens larvae are being extracted from the Catalan population near the Ports Natural Park, selecting the areas with the highest density, according to the annual censuses carried out by technicians from the Biodiversity and Animal Protection Service of the General Directorate of Environmental Policies of the Department of Territory and Sustainability (DTES) of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

The purpose of the project is to obtain the basis for developing strategies for the ex situ maintenance, management and captive breeding of very vulnerable and threatened species, since until now the captive breeding of either species has never been achieved. Macromia splendens is interested in knowing in depth the biology of the larvae and the capture of founder larvae and repopulation with larvae born in captivity is proposed, after completing the entire life cycle. In the case of Galemys pyrenaicus, given the very precarious conditions of certain populations and their high genetic differentiation -in particular the Central System- captive breeding seems the only reasonable or tolerable system to artificially favor the reinforcement of populations and the recolonization of areas in which it has become extinct, since the few persistent populations in some sectors do not allow the extraction of individuals to make translocations.