''Dendrotriton rabbi'' , commonly known as the Guatemalan bromeliad salamander, 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 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 Guatemala and is known from the Montañas de

Cuilco Cuilco is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Huehuetenango. It is located in the Cuchumatanes mountains in the Southwestern portion of Huehuetenango. In 2018 it served approximately 57,000 people, most of them Ladinos (who are ethnic ...

, near the Mexican border, and from the

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 ...

. Its range might extend into Mexico.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''rabbi'' honours George B. Rabb, an American zoologist.

Description

Males grow to at least and females to in snout–vent length. Individuals larger than about SVL are mature. Tail is longer than the body in adults. The limbs are slender and relatively long. The feet are slightly webbed. The body is dark brown dorsally and has obscure orange flecks and lighter pigmentation mid-dorsally; some individuals have light mid-dorsal stripe, paravertebral stripes, or distinct reticulate blotching. The venter is light gray and is diffusely peppered with small melanophores.

Habitat and conservation

''Dendrotriton rabbi'' inhabits forests at the subtropical-temperate forest transition zone. Its elevational range is

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 occurs 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 and under bark on tree stumps and logs. The species 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 ...

caused by forest clearance, typically for wood extraction and expanding small-holder farming.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1936188 Dendrotriton Amphibians described in 1975 Endemic fauna of Guatemala Amphibians of Guatemala Taxa named by David B. Wake Taxonomy articles created by Polbot