Cortes salamander (''Cryptotriton nasalis'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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. It is found in the Sierra de Omoa in northwestern Honduras and

Sierra de Caral Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin ''wikt:serra#Latin, serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a ...

in eastern Guatemala, close to the border with Honduras. The vernacular name Cortes salamander refers to the

Cortés Department Cortés is one of the 18 departments of Honduras. The department covers an area of 3,954 km² and, in 2015, had an estimated population of 1,612,762, making it the most populous in Honduras. The Merendón Mountains rise in western Cortés, ...

where the type locality is located, whereas the alternative name Cortez' hidden salamander with the spelling "Cortez" and the apostrophe are errors.

Taxonomy and systematics

''Cryptotriton nasalis'' was described by Emmett Reid Dunn in 1924 as ''Oedipus nasalis''. ''Nototriton wakei'', known only from the

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 ...

and named for

David B. Wake David Burton Wake (June 8, 1936 – April 29, 2021) was an American herpetologist. He was professor of integrative biology and Director and curator of herpetology of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. Wake ...

, is considered a

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

Description

''Cryptotriton nasalis'' are tiny emo salamanders. Males measure and adult females in snout–vent length (SVL). The tail is longer than the body in males (range 1.14–1.35 times the SVL) and many females (range 0.80–1.27 times the SVL). The head is moderately long and broad. The nostril openings are large and the eyes are protuberant. The limbs are slender and comparatively long. The fingers and the toes are partially webbed. The upper surfaces are dark brown with paler brown mottling behind the eyelids and along the middorsal line to the tail base. The upper surfaces of the limbs are paler than the body, whereas the tail is darker than the body.

Habitat and conservation

''Cryptotriton nasalis'' occurs in pre-montane and lower montane wet and

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

s 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 tolerates some habitat modification. It is an arboreal salamander that lives in

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 reasonably common in the

Cusuco National Park Cusuco National Park is a national park in Honduras. It was established on 1 January 1959 and covers an area of . Cusuco National Park is a protected area in the Merendon mountains of northwest Honduras. The park ranges from just above sea lev ...

in Honduras, whereas only one specimen is known from Guatemala, despite research activity in the area. The Guatemalan location is near the Sierra Caral Amphibian Reserve. It also occurs in the Cerro Azul de Copán National Park. The species is threatened by the loss of its forest habitat caused by expanding subsistence agriculture and

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a pro ...

. These threats also impact the Cusuco and Sierra Caral protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2211508 nasalis Amphibians of Guatemala Amphibians of Honduras Amphibians described in 1924 Taxa named by Emmett Reid Dunn Taxonomy articles created by Polbot