Cukra Climbing Salamander

Diagnosis: Bolitoglossa striatula is a moderately small light-colored salamander with paired dorsal and lateral dark-colored longitudinal stripes, and completely webbed feet. Its venter is usually marked with several dark longitudinal streaks or stripes (Savage 2002). It can be distinguished from most other Honduran species of Bolitoglossa by its extensive webbing and by the toe tips free of the webbing being pointed to acutely rounded; from Honduran species with undifferentiated foot pads that resemble strongly webbed feet, B. striatula can be distinguished by the combination of moderate size (59 mm maximum SVL in males, 66 mm maximum SVL in females), relatively short limbs (limb interval 3.5-4 costal folds in males, 4-5 costal folds in females), moderate numbers of maxillary teeth (>=30 in Honduran specimens), and pale brown to yellowish-brown dorsum with usually incomplete thin brown dorsolateral longitudinal stripes running from just posterior to the head onto the tail (McCranie and Wilson 2002).Description: Adults measure 81 to 130 mm in total length. Adult males are 37-54 mm in standard length, while adult females are 40-65 mm in standard length. The tail is long, measuring 49 to 55% of total length. Eyes are moderately-sized and do not protrude. Adults have 38-46 maxillary teeth and 22-24 vomerine teeth. No sublingual fold is present. The body has 13 costal grooves. Adpressed limbs are separated by 2 1/2 to 3 costal folds. Hands and feet are fully webbed and lack subterminal pads. Feet are wide. Head width is 14-16% of standard length. Leg length is 20-23% of standard length. It can be distinguished form the similar species B. schizodactyla by coloration; B. schizodactyla is brown to black and lacks longitudinal dark stripes (Savage 2002). Dorsal and ventral surfaces are cream to yellow with paired brown dorsal stripes. Paired brown lateral stripes extend from the neck onto the base of the tail. On the sides, a cream longitudinal stripe borders a dark lateral stripe and is edged below by a black line. The mid-dorsal light field and lateral light area are marked with tiny brown spots. The venter has two blurry to clear ventrolateral stripes with a few indistinct dark streaks or stripes. Few individuals are immaculate (Savage 2002). The coloration is similar to that of a banana skin (Raffaëlli 2007).First described by Noble (1918). The specific name striatula has Latin origins (stria, or stripe, and -ulus, meaning diminutive) and refers to the narrow brown stripes on the dorsal and ventral surfaces (McCranie and Wilson 2002).The specimen from Limón Province, Costa Rica was originally ascribed to B. flaviventris by Taylor (1941). Individuals from Volcán de Mombacho, Nicaragua, were formerly referred to B. striatula but are now considered a distinct species, Bolitoglossa mombachoensis (Köhler and McCranie 1999).A Spanish-language species account can be found at the website of Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) (http://darnis.inbio.ac.cr/FMPro?-DB=UBIpub.fp3&-lay=WebAll&-Format=/ubi/detail.html&-Op=bw&id=4343&-Find).

Northeastern Honduras (Gracias a Dios and Olancho), eastern Nicaragua, and northeastern Costa Rica, as well as western Costa Rica and in passes between volcanoes in Río Barranca and Guanacaste (Bolaños et al. 2008). It occurs from 2-1,052 m asl (Bolaños et al. 2008) with the Honduran localities being at lower elevations (20-140 m) (McCranie and Wilson 2002; McCranie 2007). It is found primarily in lowland moist and wet forest but ranges just into premontane wet forest and rainforest, and in Honduras it has also been found in rice plantations (Bolaños et al. 2008).

It breeds by direct development (Bolaños et al. 2008). In Honduras it has been collected on low vegetation, both along streams and away from streams (McCranie and Wilson 2002). In Costa Rica it is found on herbaceous vegetation, tall grass, and reeds near ponds (Savage 2002). It hides among dead leaves and debris during the day (Savage 2002).

Although this species is reasonably common and can be found in plantations and on grasses as well as in forest, there have been local extirpations as habitat is lost, particularly in Honduras (Bolaños et al. 2008). One of the best localities for this species (Rus-Rus, Honduras) is rapidly being deforested due to expanding human settlement, agriculture, and logging (Bolaños et al. 2008). It does occur within several protected areas (Bolaños et al. 2008), including the El Quebracho Private Wildlife Reserve in southern Nicaragua (Barquero et al. 2010) and the Reserva de la Biosfera del Sureste de Nicaragua (Sunyer et al. 2009).

The Cukra climbing salamander (Bolitoglossa striatula) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is found in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, freshwater marshes, and plantations . It is threatened by habitat loss.