Celaque Mushroomtongue Salamander

Description: Bolitoglossa celaque is a medium-sized member of the Bolitoglossa dunni clade. The average snout to vent length is 49.6 mm for an adult male and 50.6 mm for an adult female. The average total length for an adult is 93.3 mm for a male and 91.6 mm for a female (Greenbaum 2004). Adults typically have a narrow head, with a distinct groove that extends below the eye.An average of 50 maxillary teeth and 21 vomerine teeth are found in males, while females have an average of 48 maxillary teeth and 22 vomerine teeth. Vomerine teeth are long with a single arch and extend just past the middle of the internal nares (McCranie and Wilson 1993). Adults have fairly long and slender limbs and a relatively long, laterally compressed tail with a basal constriction. B. celaque has feet with paedomorphic webbing, though its longest toes usually have two un-webbed phalanges (McCranie and Wilson 1993).Coloration: Dorsal coloration is russet with small gold flecks, while subcaudal coloration ranges from a pale yellow to dark orange with gray, silver, or orange speckling. Throat color varies from pale yellow to orange. Iris color is an iridescent copper sometimes with gold flecks (Greenbaum 2004; McCranie and Wilson 1993).The species was first described by McCranie and Wilson (1993).B. celaque is named for Cerro Celaque, the highest mountain in Honduras, on which the species is found. The name celaque most likely is derived from the Aztec word celac, which means “in the cold waters” (McCranie and Wilson 1993). This salamander was previously considered to be a variant of the species B. dunni (Greenbaum 2004).Parra-Olea and his colleagues completed a phylogenetic analysis of 55 Bolitoglossa specimens to determine the phylogenetic relationships among species. B. celaque is the sister species to B. synoria, and both species are in the B. dunni group, in the subgenus Magnadigita (Parra-Olea et al 2004).

B. celaque is only known from the Cordilleras Celaque, Opalaca, and Montecillos in southern Honduras. This salamander inhabits the lower montane moist forest belt (classification by Holdridge 1967) on the eastern and west slopes at about 1930-2620 m elevation. B. celaque has been collected from wet moss mats on the ground, on tree trunks, and in terrestrial and arboreal bromeliads. At night, the salamander has been found on leaves and rocks alongside streams (McCranie and Wilson 1993).

Possible threats to this species include human alteration of habitat, habitat destruction due to subsistence agriculture and forest fires, and changes in environmental regimes, due to climate change (Wilson and McCranie 2003). B. celaque is considered a species at high risk due to its narrow geographic distribution, strict habitat requirements, and sensitive reproductive mode.

The Celaque climbing salamander (Bolitoglossa celaque) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Honduras. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.