Description
Bolitoglossa jugivagans is a small salamander with short legs and a prehensile tail longer than its body. The species description is based on one female specimen with a snout-vent length of 31.2 mm and a tail length of 38.8 mm. The head is short and narrow with length of 21% of the snout-lent length and head width of 4.3 mm. The lips are slightly swelled and eyes are small, slightly extended at the sides when looking at it from a ventral view. The limbs are short, with adpressed limbs having 4 costal folds between them. The hands and feet are narrow, with moderate webbing except for the two terminal phalanges and subterminal pads in the longest digits (Hertz et al. 2013).

Bolitoglossa jugivagans can be differentiated from other Bolitoglossa species by its color patterns, moderately webbed hands and feet, two phalanges that are not webbed, and from tail length to snout vent length ratios. From almost entirely black Bolitoglossas, including B. anthracina, B. compacta, B. copia, B. magnifica, B. nigrescens, B. robusta, and B. sombra, Bolitoglossa jugivagans can be differentiated by its lighter coloration (see coloration section below) of a reddish-brown dorsum with stripes, limb intervals of 4 costal folds, and a maximum tail length to snout vent length ratio of 1.24. Bolitoglossa pygmaea has little pigment and a tail shorter than its snout-vent length. Bolitoglossa gracilis is a bright yellow color with dark spots, long legs, and limb intervals of 3 - 3.5 costal folds. Bolitoglossa pesrubra also has longer legs and limb intervals of 0 to 3 folds but a shorter tail in comparison. Bolitoglossa subpalmata has limb intervals of 1 to 3 folds. Bolitoglossa gomezi has a shorter tail length to snout vent length ratio of 1.15 – 1.19 in females, and limb intervals of 1.5 – 3 folds. Bolitoglossa kamuk has a shorter tail and a dark ground coloration with golden flecks on its back part of the body and tail. Bolitoglossa jugivagans is closely related to B. robinsoni and B. aureogularis. It can be distinguished from B. robinsoni by the latter being generally larger and wider at the head, with a short tail, and a large and fat body. It can be distinguished from B. aureogularis, who has similar dorsal coloration, by its ventral coloration because B. aureogularis has a brighter yellow gular region and dark stripes against a white background in the middle of the belly side. Furthermore, B. aureogularis has shorter legs and limb intervals of 6.5 costal folds in females and 5 folds in males (Hertz et al. 2013).

In life, the dorsal side of B. jugivagans is chestnut colored interspersed with lines of a dark salmon color running along the length of the body. From eye to groin there is a dorsolateral line that separates the salmon stripes between the middorsal coloration and the coloration on the back and abdomen of the salamander. The belly side is yellow with gray spots at night and fuscous in the daytime. The throat, hands and feet are yellow with darker limbs. In preservation, the yellow coloration has faded to cream shades and the brown coloration to a reddish shade (Hertz et al. 2013).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Panama

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Bolitoglossa jugivagans can be found at localities along the Río Chiriquí Malí stream in a section of the valley on the Caribbean slope of the Cordillera Central not far from the western Panama (Hertz et al. 2013).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
The holotype was found active in the late hours of the night near the side of a river on a large leaf of Araceae. During the afternoon it had been raining and by the evening precipitation was recorded at 44.5 mm. The weather was also very cold, with temperature recorded at 19.6°C by midnight and decreasing to 17.6°C by early dawn. This was the only specimen found (Hertz et al. 2013).

Trends and Threats
Because this species is so recently described and because there is only one known specimen, there are currently no known threats or trends.

Comments
Hertz A, Lotzkat S, Köhler G. 2013. A new species of Bolitoglossa (Caudata, Plethodontidae) from the continental divide of the western Panama. Zootaxa 3636: 463-475.

The species epithet is made up of two-parts, from the locative jugum meaning “mountain ridge” and vagare meaning “to wander” in Latin. Thus the species epithet signifies “wandering on the mountain ridge” which refers to the type locality next to the continental divide of the Cordillera Central where it was found (Hertz et al. 2013).

This species is based on one found specimen. Despite this, 16S rDNA genetic analysis and morphology show the species is different from other Bolitoglossa and from species in the subclade Eladinea (Hertz et al. 2013).

It’s assumed males of this species have limb lengths of 2.5 – 3 costal folds based on the knowledge that female Bolitoglossa tend to have shorter limbs than males (Hertz et al. 2013).

References

Hertz A, Lotzkat S, Köhler G. (2013). ''A new species of Bolitoglossa (Caudata, Plethodontidae) from the continental divide of the western Panama.'' Zootaxa, 3636, 463-475.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2013 Bolitoglossa jugivagans: Continental Divide Salamander <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/7997> 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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