Description
Bolitoglossa muisca is a large-bodied salamander that was described from five female and four male specimens with snout-vent length ranges from 51.5 - 72.1 mm in females and 50.6 - 58.1 mm in males. However when including referred specimens the snout-vent length range is 33.0 - 72.1 mm and their average snout-vent length is 52.8 mm. The species has a broad head that is slightly longer than wide and narrows at the neck. The short snout is truncated in the profile and somewhat truncated to rounded in the dorsal and ventral views. In males, three premaxillary teeth pierce the upper lip. The nasolabial grooves are well developed. The canthus rostralis is small, subtle, and rounded. The large eyes do not protrude beyond the margins of the head in the dorsal view, and have a diameter that is shorter than the interorbital distance. There is also a very thick post-ocular fold that extends from the posterior corner of the eye to the anterior margin of the moderate gular fold, which is present under the neck. The skin is smooth and there are 13 costal grooves, which can be observed on the long trunk. The limbs are moderately long, being nearly a quarter of the snout-vent length. The fingers have a relative length of I < II < IV < III, and are moderately webbed with the third finger extending further from the webbing than the others. Subterminal pads are also present. The toes have less webbing than the fingers with toes II - V having less webbing than toe I. The longest digits of the hands and feet appear subcircular. The short and stocky tail has a shorter length than the snout-vent length, is narrower than the body in width at the base, and has a somewhat rectangular outline (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

DIAGNOSIS:

When B. muisca is compared to its sister species, B. adspersa has less webbing on its hands and feet. Bolitoglossa muisca is also slightly larger and its tail is thick and short relative to the trunk, which is the opposite of B. adspersa. Compared to B. capitana, B. muisca is smaller in size, has fewer maxillary and vomerine teeth, and has a small gular fold. Bolitoglossa muisca can be differentiated from B. pandi by the focal species being slightly larger, having smoother skin, a rectangular tail that becomes wider than the base, and oval third digits (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

COLORATION:

In life, the dorsal background color on the head, body, and tail varies greatly between Orange-Rufous, Dark Salmon, and Raw Umber following Köhler’s color catalogue (2012). They can be speckled with Dark Salmon or Raw Umber depending on the background color. There may be white stippling on their lateral surfaces and an irregular thin white or Light-Yellow Ochre line on the flanks, dorsum, legs and tail. The ventral background color is white or cream and may have Raw Umber speckles, reticulations, and/or blotches. The ventral surfaces of the limbs and tail have Light Yellow-Orange vermiculations and the ventral surfaces of its hands and feet are olive-brown. The margins of the ventral coloration may be indistinct. The salamander’s irises are Light Sky Blue with Pratt’s Rufous reticulations (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

In preservative, the holotype’s Raw Umber with Dark salamon speckling is retained. However, the formerly white lateral and ventral surfaces are now Smoke Grey. The ventral speckling is still Raw Umber but the ventral surfaces of the hands and feet become Grayish Horn. The irises are now Amber with Orange Rufous reticulations (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

VARIATION:

There is individual and sexual variation. Specifically, B. muisca has a wide chromatic variation (see coloration in life above). An exception to this variation is that the ventral background color is consistently white or cream regardless of age or sex. Sexually, males possess three premaxillary teeth that piece the upper lip, which the females lack (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Colombia

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Bolitoglossa muisca is found in remnant cloud forests on the western slopes of the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia in the municipalities of Bojacá, Grenada, San Antonio del Tequendama, Silvania, and Soacha in the Cundinamarca department. All the individuals were found at elevations between 2390 - 2700 meters above sea level (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Bolitoglossa muisca is nocturnal. Individuals from the Bojacá municipality were often found on the leaves and the bases of scaly tree ferns (Cyatheaceae) at night. Individuals from the San Antonio del Tequendama municipality were found perched on branches of shrubs (Araceae or Melastomataceae) that were away from flowing water bodies (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

During the day, a few individuals were found hiding in bromeliads that were less than 2m above the ground (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

Boliotoglossa muisca secretes a sticky, white mucoserous liquid when being handled. The substance is presumably toxic and used as a predator deterrent (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

Like many other salamanders, this species has the ability to regenerate its tail, and uses a rapidly protruding tongue to catch insect prey. Individuals lack lungs and rely entirely on cutaneous respiration (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

At least two Pristimantis species, one identified as P. uisae, and the Anolis lizard, A. heterodermus, are found in sympatry with B. muisca (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

Larva
As a member of the family Plethodontidae, it is assumed that this species reproduces via direct development.

Trends and Threats
Although the B. muisca type locality is within a protected area that works to improve cloud forest connectivity, it is still threatened by deforestation, logging, and clearing of cloud forest in the rest of its range. Because B. muisca has an small estimated Extent of Occurrence of 102 km² and because most of its range is not protected, the species authority believe B. muisca should be considered “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List. Regardless, a monitoring program is recommended to better understand the status of the species (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

The type locality of the species is in a protected area called; “Distrito de Manejo Integrado Cerro Manjui - Salto del Tequendama” and it is led by Empresas Públicas de Medellín and Fundación Natura with a mission of improving connectivity between cloud forest remnants in the Tequendama area (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and loss
Habitat modification from deforestation, or logging related activities

Comments
Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analyses of 16S, cytB mtDNA and Rag1 nDNA identified B. muisca as the sister taxon to A. adspersa. The two species are geographically and genetically close to each other (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

OTHER INTERESTING INFORMATION:

Bolitoglossa muisca was acknowledged as a candidate species as early as 1963 by Arden H. Brame and David B. Wake, who found diagnostic morphological differences based on one specimen. However, due to low sample size the new species was not described then. Sometime between the late 1980s and early 1990s, Brame and Wake appeared to have worked on a manuscript that described three new Bolitoglossa species from Colombia, which would have included B. muisca, but the manuscript was never published. The species authority of B. muisca found the type specimens Brame and Wake would have used and confirmed they were the same species, but unfortunately the specimens were in poor condition and thus relegated to referred specimens instead of type specimens (López-Perilla et al. 2023).

References
Köhler, G. (2012). Color Catalogue for Field Biologists. Herpeton, Offenbach, Germany.

López-Perilla, Y. R., Fernández-Roldán, J. D., Meza-Joya, F. L., and Medina-Rangel, G. F. (2023). A new Bolitoglossa (Amphibia, Caudata, Plethodontidae) from the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia. ZooKeys, 1158, 27–48. [link]

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2025 Bolitoglossa muisca: Muisca salamander (English) <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/9727> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed May 5, 2025.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2025. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 5 May 2025.

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