Endangered
Cerro Pando salamander
Bolitoglossa compacta
Cerro Pando salamander is a salamander in the family Plethodontidae (order Caudata) — Bolitoglossa compacta, recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
The salamander is a robustly-built and medium-sized species for its genus, with female Cerro Pando salamander reaching a snout–vent length of 68.5–74.2 mm (2.7–2.9 in) and males measuring 53.4 mm (2.1 in) long. It is mostly dark black in color, except for a few pale orange or yellow splotches on the upper sides that are sometimes connected to make two ill-defined lines or a band across the back. It is a medium-sized species for its genus, with females reaching a snout–vent length of 68.5–74.2 mm (2.7–2.9 in) and males reaching 53.4 mm (2.1 in).
Range and habitat
Cerro Pando salamander inhabits moist montane rainforests in the Costa Rica-Panama border region. It is found at elevations of 1,650–2,780 m (5,410–9,120 ft). It has been observed on low vegetation such as palm stems in forests, as well as below dilapidated roofs.
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 classified as being endangered by the IUCN due its limited range and ongoing habitat degradation. Cerro Pando salamander is classified as being endangered by the IUCN due its limited range and ongoing habitat degradation. The species' range is threatened by logging and development.
Salamander chytrid fungus, a pathogen that has devastated European salamander populations post its 2010 introduction to that continent, has not yet spread to the Americas, but still presents a future threat to the species if it ever spreads to Panama or Costa Rica.
Salamanders disappear when seeps are capped, caves are disturbed, or a pathogen moves through a mountain range.
Cerro Pando salamander is 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 Cerro Pando salamander, Wikidata item Q2211688. 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.
