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| Bolitoglossa aurae
Kubicki & Arias, 2016
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Abstract
A new yellow salamander belonging to the genus Bolitoglossa, subgenus Eladinea, is described from a premontane rainforest in the vicinity of Moravia de Chirripó, on the northeastern slopes of the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica at an elevation of ca. 1300 m. This new taxon is distinguished from its congeners by its chromatic and morphological characteristics, and by differentiation in DNA sequences of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and cytochrome b genes.
Keywords: Amphibia, Central America, Bolitoglossa aurae sp. nov., Bolitoglossa robinsoni clade, caudate, Eladinea, 16S rRNA, cytochrome b
Bolitoglossa aurae sp. nov.
Aura’s golden salamander
Generic Placement. Assigned to the genus Bolitoglossa due to having fewer than 14 costal grooves and lacking a sublingual fold, and to the subgenus Eladinea based the molecular evidence presented herein.
Etymology. The name “aurae” is in dedication to Aura Reyes, the wife of BK, who co-discovered the holotype and has supported and encouraged BK’s research and conservation efforts with the amphibians of Costa Rica for many years, this in addition to her own contributions to increase the knowledge of Costa Rica’s amphibians made possible through dedicating her time to accompanying BK on numerous field trips, many of which consisted of enduring prolonged periods of cold conditions while being soaking wet within the cloud forests of Costa Rica to search for elusive anuran and caudate species. The name also alludes to the Latin aureus, meaning golden, for the yellow coloration the holotype possessed in life.
Distribution. Bolitoglossa aurae is known only from a single site within the Tropical Premontane Rain Forest life zone (Holdridge 1967) along the mid-elevation slopes of northeastern Cordillera de Talamanca, in the vicinity of Moravia de Chirripó, ca.1300 m (Fig. 1).
Kubicki, Brian and Erick Arias. 2016. A Beautiful New Yellow Salamander, Genus Bolitoglossa (Caudata: Plethodontidae), from the northeastern Slopes of the Cordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica. Zootaxa. 4184(2); 329–346. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4184.2.5
Resumen: Se describe una nueva salamandra amarilla perteneciente al género Bolitoglossa, subgénero Eladinea, del bosque lluvioso premontano en las proximidades de Moravia de Chirripó en la vertiente noreste de la Cordillera de Talamanca en Costa Rica, a una elevación aproximada de 1300 m.s.n.m. Esta nueva especie se diferencia de sus congéneres por sus caracteristicas cromáticas, morfológicas y su diferenciación molecular en los genes mitocondriales 16S rARN y citocromo b.
Palabras clave: América Central, Amphibia, Bolitoglossa aurae sp. nov., caudado, clado Bolitoglossa robinsoni, Eladinea, 16S rARN, citocromo b
