Critically Endangered
Leora's stream salamander
Ambystoma leorae
Leora's stream salamander is a salamander in the family Ambystomatidae (order Caudata) — Ambystoma leorae, recorded as Critically Endangered.
The salamander
Leora's stream salamander is a salamander in the family Ambystomatidae (order Caudata) — Ambystoma leorae.
Range and habitat
This species is endemic to the Sierra Nevada in central Mexico. Long ago it disappeared from the heavily polluted Rio Frio where it was first found. The salamanders were found in two small streams (2 m wide, 6.5 m depth) with cold water temperature (12 to 15 °C), highly elevated oxygenation water level (78% dissolved oxygen) surrounded by small alpine grassland (Muhlenbergia sp.) and mountain forest (Pinus hartwegii and Abies religiosa).
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
Salamanders hide under logs, in seeps, or in caves. They do not commute across a dry valley.
Eggs and damp skin make amphibians quick to vanish from a drained wetland or a forest stripped of litter.
In crisis
It is endemic to a very small area of land in the Iztaccihuatl-Popocatepetl National Park on the border of the State of Mexico with Puebla, with a single known population on Mount Tlaloc. It has been listed as a threatened species by the Mexican Government and as "critically endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Because of the species limited distribution, the clearance of the forest, and the pollution and consumption of the water by humans, it is classified by the IUCN as a critically endangered species and as a threatened species by the Mexican government.
In the geographic distribution of the species, there are several threats that are modifying the ecosystem, among them alteration of the stream to collect the water for human consumption, introduction of cattle, and the direct collection of specimens for traditional food.
Salamanders disappear when seeps are capped, caves are disturbed, or a pathogen moves through a mountain range.
Leora's stream 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 Leora's stream salamander, Wikidata item Q2511165. 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.
