Critically Endangered
Lake Patzcuaro salamander
Ambystoma dumerilii
Lake Patzcuaro salamander is a salamander in the family Ambystomatidae (order Caudata) — Ambystoma dumerilii, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
Lake Patzcuaro salamander are large, ectothermic salamanders. Adult specimen have a snout to vent length of 12.2 cm (4.8 in) and a size range of 12.8 cm (5.0 in) to 28.2 cm (11.1 in). Their dorsum can range from tan brown to green, sometimes with dark brown spots, while their undersides are a pale grey. Their toes, rostrum of the head, cloaca, and underside of the tail tend to have a darker coloring compared to the body.
Males and females are identical lengths. Some adults have been observed growing over 35 cm (14 in) in length. This places achoques as one of the largest species in their genus.
First described in 1870 by Alfredo Dugès, the species is named in honor of the French herpetologist Auguste Duméril.
Range and habitat
Due to habitat destruction and pollution resultant of the rising human population of Pátzcuaro, a city located on Lake Pátzcuaro, the achoque population has decreased severely in the past decades. Lake Pátzcuaro is part of a larger basin, that makes the lake the final source for any runoff produced by the surrounding villages. Silt, fertilizer, sewage, cow waste, and pollutant runoff, exacerbated by local deforestation, have negatively impacted water quality and resulted in eutrophication of the lake.
The salamanders are most commonly found near the islands of La Pacanda and Tzitzipandácuri, and less commonly near La Ortiga and Santa Cruz Uricho.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
Males initiate courtship by arching the base of their tails and swimming around the female. They lift their tails further to present their cloaca. If the female is receptive, she will begin to follow the male to a breeding site, where males release up to 16 spermatophores.
Ova begin maturation during the spring's rainy season and spawning occurs in response to increasing seasonal temperatures. Lake Patzcuaro salamander are neotenic, meaning they retain their larval characteristics throughout their entire life.
In crisis
Lake Patzcuaro salamander are listed as critically endangered in the IUCN red list, and in Appendix II CITES due to pollution, overfishing, eutrophication, and invasive species. It is estimated that there are less than 100 individuals left in the wild, and that the species may go extinct in the wild within the next 20 to 30 years. Currently, there are 4 in situ colonies in Mexico and additional colonies abroad maintaining the species' population.
The most notable of these is run by Sisters of the Dominican Order, at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud, who currently maintain a colony of 300 members, the largest known population of the species in the world. While the exact location and number of achoques is unknown, the current extent of occurrence is estimated at under than 100 km2.
Salamanders disappear when seeps are capped, caves are disturbed, or a pathogen moves through a mountain range.
Lake Patzcuaro salamander is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Lake Patzcuaro salamander, Wikidata item Q1054971. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
