Pseudoeurycea smithi | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Amphibia |
Order: | Urodela |
Family: | Plethodontidae |
Genus: | Pseudoeurycea |
Species: | P. smithi |
Binomial name | |
Pseudoeurycea smithi (Taylor, 1938) | |
Pseudoeurycea smithi, commonly known as Smith's false brook salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to certain mountainous regions of Mexico. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Smith's false brook salamander is a large species that can grow to 14.6 centimetres (5.7 in), half of which is tail. It has a wide head and large paratoid glands behind the eyes. There are twelve to fifteen costal grooves on either side of the body and the tail is prehensile and has a constriction at its base. The limbs are slender and the fingers and toes completely or partially webbed. The back is dark brown, the sides olive brown with black bars and the belly pale. The chin is cream coloured with brown speckles and the sides of the tail have black spots. [2] [3]
Pseudoeurycea smithi occurs in several mountain ranges in north west Oaxaca State, Mexico, at an altitude of between 2,500 and 3,000 metres (8,200 and 9,800 ft) above sea level. [4] Its natural habitat is pine forests and it is often found hidden under loose bark on fallen logs. In the past it has demonstrated that it can adapt to living in secondary forest after destruction of the virgin forest. [1]
Smith's false brook salamander is a terrestrial species. Little is known of the breeding habits of this species but the female is believed to brood the eggs and they hatch directly into juvenile salamanders with no intervening larval stage. [2]
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists this species as "Critically Endangered". [4] At one time it was very common within its range but had declined in numbers by more than eighty percent by 2004. Although logging, changing agricultural practices and human activities have taken place in the mountains where it lives, good quality habitat still exists and these factors do not fully explain the decline in population size, the cause of which remains a mystery. [4] Some of the range is within the bounds of the Parque Nacional Benito Juarez which makes conservation easier. Research is needed to discover the causes of the population collapse. [4]
Ixalotriton niger, the black jumping salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Mexico. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and rocky areas and it is threatened by habitat loss.
Ixalotriton parva, the dwarf false brook salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to a small mountainous area of Mexico where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. There is some doubt whether this species should be classified as Pseudoeurycea parva or Ixalotriton parva.
Pseudoeurycea orchileucos, commonly known as the Sierra de Juárez worm salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Oaxaca, Mexico, where it is known from the northern slopes of Sierra de Juarez at elevations of 800–1,390 m (2,620–4,560 ft) above sea level.
Pseudoeurycea anitae, commonly known as Anita's false brook salamander or Anita's salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Mexico and only known from its type locality near San Vicente Lachixío, Oaxaca, in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains, at about 2,100 m (6,900 ft) above sea level. The specific name anitae honors Anita Smith, a resident of Oaxaca City who helped Charles Mitchill Bogert when he was collecting in the surroundings of the city. This species might already be extinct.
Pseudoeurycea aurantia, commonly known as Peña Verde salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Oaxaca, Mexico and only known from its type locality near Peña Verde, which is the northernmost high peak in the Sierra de Juárez.
Pseudoeurycea exspectata also known as the Jalpa false brook salamander, was a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It was endemic to Guatemala.
Pseudoeurycea gadovii, commonly known as Gadow's false brook salamander or Gadow's salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Mexico and occurs on and near the volcanoes Pico de Orizaba and Cofre de Perote in central region of Veracruz as well as on the slopes of La Malinche on the Tlaxcala-Puebla border.
Pseudoeurycea lynchi, commonly known as the Veracruz green salamander, is a species of salamanders in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the central Sierra Madre Oriental in Veracruz and Puebla states, Mexico.
Pseudoeurycea melanomolga, commonly known as the black false brook salamander or black salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Mexico and known from the surroundings of the Cofre de Perote in west-central Veracruz as well as from two localities in the adjacent northeast Puebla.
Pseudoeurycea mixcoatl, commonly known as brown-streaked salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Mexico.
Pseudoeurycea mystax is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Mexico and only known from the area of its type locality near Ayutla, Oaxaca. Its common name is mustache false brook salamander or mustached false brook salamander. The specific name refers to the whitish protuberances on the lips that resemble a mustache in the frontal view of the male holotype.
Pseudoeurycea nigromaculata, commonly known as the black-spotted salamander or black-spotted false brook salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Veracruz, Mexico, and known from Cerro Chicahuaxtla ) in Cuatlalpan and from Volcán San Martín at elevations of 1,200–1,300 m (3,900–4,300 ft). These separate populations likely represent distinct species.
The ridge tail salamander, also known as ridge-tailed salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Oaxaca, Mexico, and only known from the area of its type locality.
Aquiloeurycea praecellens, also known as the admirable false brook salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the Sierra Madre Oriental in Veracruz, Mexico. Its natural habitat is lowland tropical moist forest where it is threatened by habitat loss.
Pseudoeurycea rex, which has been given the common name royal false brook salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is found in western Guatemala; on Volcán Tacaná, its range extends to the Mexican side of the Guatemalan–Mexican border.
Pseudoeurycea robertsi is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Mexico and only known from the Nevado de Toluca, near Toluca in the State of Mexico. Its common name is Roberts' false brook salamander. The specific name robertsi honors the collector of the holotype, Mr. Radclyffe Roberts from the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences.
Pseudoeurycea teotepec, commonly known as the Teotepec salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Mexico and only known from its type locality, southern slope of Cerro Teotepec in Guerrero, at about 3,425 m (11,237 ft) asl.
Pseudoeurycea unguidentis is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to northern Oaxaca, Mexico, where it is known from its type locality, Cerro San Felipe, and some other mountains, although the identity of animals from these other locations is uncertain. Its common names are claw-toothed salamander, clawtooth false brook salamander, and clawtoed false brook salamander.
Pseudoeurycea werleri is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. Its common name is Werler's false brook salamander or simply Werler's salamander. It is endemic to the Sierra de los Tuxtlas range in southern Veracruz state, Mexico. Its natural habitats are tropical rainforests and cloud forests where it lives in moss mats. It is threatened by habitat loss caused by subsistence agriculture, logging, and human settlement.
Thorius smithi, commonly known as Smith's salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Mexico and only known from near the towns of Vista Hermosa and Metates in Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca. Its natural habitats are cloud and tropical forests where it occurs on the ground under rocks and logs. It is a very rare species known only from two locations, despite attempts to find it. Presumably, habitat loss caused by logging and expanding agricultural development are threats to its forest habitat.