Description

Bolitoglossa bramei is a small salamander, with the standard (snout-vent) length reaching 38.1 to 41 mm in females and 37.6 to 39.1 mm in males. The body is slender and has a very long, slender tail with the standard length to tail length ratio between .89 to .99 in females and .93 to 1.1 in males. The narrow head is distinct from the very narrow neck and has prominent, frontally oriented eyes that extend slightly beyond the dorsal profile of the head. The rounded snout has a small nostril and poorly developed nasolabial protuberances. The mouth has many teeth, including 3 or 4 premaxillary teeth, 49 to 57 maxillary teeth, and 24 to 27 teeth on the vomer in males. Females have 6 premaxillary teeth, 52 to 66 maxillary teeth, and 24 to 28 vomerine teeth. This salamander has long legs with moderately wide, webbed hands and feet. The fingers are 1-2-4-3 in increasing length, and toes are 1-5-2-4-3 in increasing length, and have truncate tips and very developed pads near the ends.

Coloration of Bolitoglossa bramei is variable in life. The base color is a dark brown or brownish red. Ventral surfaces are gray with light lines, mottled with random melanophores and larger guanophores, or black. The body has a reddish brown jagged stripe that blends into the tail and has a dark brown trunk otherwise, and the stripe can have cream lines on the border. The tail is also reddish brown, becoming darker near the end and usually with red at the very tip. Ventrally the tail is orange with dark splotches on the bottom. Limbs are yellowish brown, sometimes with bright orange or white marks. The head is a dark brown, with groups of black spots that extend to the shoulders. The iris is mostly black, with a few minute brown areas.

In alcohol, the type specimen is described as having a yellow dorsum, more prominent posteriorly, with dark areas all along. The ventral surface is light gray with yellowish areas in random spots and lines. The head is a dark gray, but located behind the eyes and on the snout are dark yellow spots and the throat is light grey with yellow areas like the snout. The legs are described as dark with minimal yellow areas, with the yellow mainly concentrated on the part of the limb near the body.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Costa Rica, Panama

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

This species is found in the southern part of the Cordillera de Talamanca on the Atlantic and Pacific slopes, from the Costa Rica-Panama border to southern and eastern localities in Panama, extending to the Chiriqui Province and Boquete area. It lives in tropical lower montane rainforest, at elevations from 1900 to 2300 m.

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors

Bolitoglossa bramei is a nocturnal, arboreal salamander that can be found either on the ground, or in vegetation up to a few meters above the ground. It has a prehensile tail and is good at climbing.

Comments

Arden H. Brame, Jr., II was the first to distinguish this species of Bolitoglossa as undescribed from the specimens collected. The specific name bramei also honors his many contributions to salamander studies (Wake et al. 2007).

References

Wake, D. B., Savage, J. M., and Hanken, J. (2007). ''Montane salamanders from the Costa Rica-Panama border region, with descriptions of two new species of Bolitoglossa.'' Copeia, 3, 556-565.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2008 Bolitoglossa bramei: Brame's Web-footed Salamander <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/6965> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Nov 21, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 21 Nov 2024.

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