''Aquiloeurycea praecellens'', also known as the admirable false brook salamander, is a species of

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten ...

in the family

Plethodontidae Plethodontidae, or lungless salamanders, are a family of salamanders. Most species are native to the Western Hemisphere, from British Columbia to Brazil, although a few species are found in Sardinia, Europe south of the Alps, and South Korea. In ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that f ...

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

, Mexico. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is lowland tropical moist forest where it is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Description

''Aquiloeurycea praecellens'' is a stocky, ground dwelling species that may reach a total length of , almost half of which is tail. It has short, strong limbs and partially webbed fingers and toes. The general colour is brownish black and there are whitish spots along the sides and on the tail. The underside is paler brown. There is some doubt as to the validity of this species as it is only known from a single specimen (

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

) found in 1940. It was an immature specimen so its full size when mature is not known. However, it is likely that it is the smallest species of false brook salamander. The eggs probably hatch directly into small salamanders.

Distribution

''Aquiloeurycea praecellens'' is known from humid tropical forest on the Atlantic side of the

near Cordoba in Veracruz State in Mexico. Another sighting was made in a canyon at

Teocelo Teocelo is a city in the Mexican state of Veracruz, located to 20 km from Jalapa-Enríquez on Federal Highway 180. It is bordered by: Ixhuacán, Xico, and Coatepec. The coffee of Teocelo is one of the best coffees produced in Mexico. Teocel ...

near Jalapa, but this may not have been the same species.

Conservation

''Aquiloeurycea praecellens'' is listed in the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

as Critically Endangered. This is because only a single individual has ever been recorded (in 1940) and it was found not far from the city of Cordoba, which has expanded considerably since that date. It is unlikely that any suitable habitat survives.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28007394 praecellens Endemic amphibians of Mexico Amphibians described in 1955 Taxa named by George B. Rabb Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Fauna of the Sierra Madre Oriental