Cerro Pital Salamander
Species Data
Class: Amphibia
Order: Caudata
Family: Plethodontidae
Scientific Name: Bolitoglossa synoria
IUCN Red List status: Critically Endangered
Description
The Cerro Pital Salamander is a small species, measuring just 5cm long. Its tail is the same size as the rest of the body, and it has rather elongated limbs with reduced webbing of the toes and fingers.
Its overall colour is a dark greyish brown, with a grey to black marbling on its tail and flanks. The ventral sides are pale brown with a white flecking, and the iris is pale brown.
Behaviour
Not much is known about the behaviour of this elusive species. It lives on low vegetation in lower montane moist forest, and in nearby degraded areas where there is still some good vegetation cover.
The Cerro Pital Salamander is unlikely to tolerate habitat disturbance and requires cloud forest cover to thrive, often finding its home on tree ferns and tree trunks close to streams.
Habitat
The Cerro Pital Salamander is only found in a very small, restricted area in the subtropical and tropical moist montane forests between Honduras and El Salvador.
Threats and Conservation
The population of the Cerro Pital Salamander is suspected to be decreasing due to ongoing decline in the extent and quality of its habitat, which already depends on a very small range. For this reason, it is categorised as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
The main threats the species faces are habitat loss due to deforestation for coffee plantations, expanding agriculture and cattle farming.
In 2017, the Cerro Pital Salamander was recorded in the Güisayote Biological Reserve in western Honduras, which is managed by our partner AESMO as part of their vital work in Honduras’ Trifinio region. WLT is supporting AESMO’s mission to protect the fragmented forests of this region, safeguarding essential habitat for species like the Cerro Pital Salamander.
