Hartweg's climbing salamander (''Bolitoglossa hartwegi''), also known as Hartweg's mushroomtongue salamander, and Hartweg's 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 found in the north-central

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...

, Mexico, and the adjacent Guatemalan

Sierra de los Cuchumatanes The Sierra de los Cuchumatanes is the highest non-volcanic mountain range in Central America. Its elevations range from to over , and it covers a total area of .Lovell 2005:11 With an area of situated above , it is also the most extensive hig ...

Etymology

This species is named after

Norman Hartweg Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

, American herpetologist and "an able scientist who spent many years studying Chiapan amphibians and reptiles and who stimulated and guided many investigations of the biology of tropical organisms."

Description

Males measure and females in

snout–vent length Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the most c ...

(SVL). The tail is robust and about two thirds of SVL. The body is robust and the snout is relatively short and truncate. The limbs are slender and moderately long. The hands and feet are relatively large.

Habitat and conservation

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 ...

s are coniferous and oak forests, often in association with limestone outcrops, at elevations of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. It lives in crevices, sometimes found under flakes of rock or under the bark of logs, but even arboreal

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

s. It is a common species that tolerates habitat modification reasonably well, although

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 ...

can still be a threat.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2210749 hartwegi Amphibians of Guatemala Amphibians of Mexico Amphibians described in 1969 Taxa named by David B. Wake Taxonomy articles created by Polbot