Bolitoglossa mucuyensis García-Gutiérrez, Escalona, Mora, de Pascual & Fermin, 2013
La Mucuy Salamander, Salamandra de La Mucuy Subgenus: Eladinea | family: Plethodontidae subfamily: Hemidactyliinae genus: Bolitoglossa |
Species Description: Garcia-Gutierrez J, Escalona M, Mora A, Diaz de Pascual A, Fermin G. 2013 A new species of salamander (Caudata: Plethodontidae, Bolitoglossa) from Sierra Nevada de Merida, Venezuela. Zootaxa 3620:179-191. |
© 2013 Amelia Diaz (1 of 6) |
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Description Bolitoglossa mucuyensis can differentiated from other Venezuelan salamanders, excluding B. orestes, by having a longer snout-vent length to total length ratio (1.36 ± 0.38). This species can be differentiated from B. orestes and other Venezuelan salamanders by having more rounded digits with less webbing, specifically on digits 3 and between digit 1 and 2 of the hand, and between toes 1 and 2 and between 3 and 4 (Garcia-Gutierrez et al. 2013). In life, B. mucuyensis dorsal regions are dark brown to black. There are various individual dorsal markings with some specimens having light brown spots or a light ochre or black dorsal stripe along the spine. Some individuals have at the base of their tails merging light paravertebral spots. The venter, flanks, and limbs are light to dark brown. In ethanol, the backgrounds of specimens become uniformly dark brown on the dorsum, flanks lighter brown, and venter lighter still. Dorsal strips do not lose much color, paraverteral spots become darker (Garcia-Gutierrez et al. 2013). Bolitoglossa mucuyensis has a highly variable coloration pattern (black to ochre, with or without varying colors and patterns in clearly evident stripes and spots; Garcia-Gutierrez et al. 2013). Distribution and Habitat Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Venezuela
Trends and Threats Comments The other bolitoglossine from Mérida state, B. orestes, has been a matter of taxonomic confusion in the past. According to Fermin et al. (2012) there is only one salamander at Sierra La Culata, since the previously reported B. spongai (sensu Barrio-Amorós and Fuestes-Ramos 1999) turned out to be a junior synonym of B. orestes, as originally described by Brame and Wake in 1962. Recently, García-Gutiérrez et al. (2013) reported the distinctiveness of La Mucuy salamander (Sierra Nevada de Mérida), and provided a full description of what was erroneously considered to be B. orestes in the past. Briefly, B. orestes is distributed along Sierra La Culata, while B. mucuyensis is restricted to a small area of Sierra Nevada de Mérida.
References
Barrio, C. L. and Fuentes, O. (1999). '' Bolitoglossa spongai una nueva especie de salamandra (Caudata: Plethodontidae) de los Andes Venezolanos, con comentarios sombre el genero en Venezuela.'' Acta Biologica Venezuelica, 19(4), 9-19. Brame A.H., Jr., Wake, D.B. (1962). ''A new plethodontid salamander (genus Bolitoglossa) from Venezuela with redescription of the Ecuadorian salamander B. palmata (Werner).'' Copeia, 1962(1), 170–177. Díaz de Pascual A., García J., Mora A., Kiyota S., Escalona M. (2010). ''Bolitoglossa orestes (Culata climbing salamander) and Bolitoglossa spongai (NCN). Life history.'' Herpetological Review, 41, 186–187. Fermin, G., García-Gutiérrez, J., Escalona, M., Mora, A., Díaz. A. (2012). ''Molecular taxonomic reassessment of the cloud forest’s Bolitoglossa salamanders (Caudata: Plethodontidae) from Cordillera de Mérida (Mérida state, Venezuela).'' Zootaxa, 3356, 47–56. García-Gutiérrez, J., Escalona, M., Mora, A., Díaz, A., Fermin, G. (2013). ''A new species of salamander (Caudata: Plethodontidae, Bolitoglossa) from Sierra Nevada de Mérida, Venezuela.'' Zootaxa, 3620, 179–191. Originally submitted by: Gustavo Fermin (first posted 2013-08-21) Edited by: Ann T. Chang (2021-01-18) Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2021 Bolitoglossa mucuyensis: La Mucuy Salamander <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/7973> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Oct 3, 2024.
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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 3 Oct 2024. AmphibiaWeb's policy on data use. |