Plectrohyla celata
CERRO HUMO CHICO TREEFROG
Plectrohyla celata - Toal & Mendelson 1995
IDENTIFICATION:
DISTRIBUTION:
Plectrohyla celata is known only from the upper Atlantic slopes of Cerro Humo Chico (Cerro Pelon), in the Sierra de Juárez of Oaxaca, Mexico at elevations between 2640 and 2890 meters.
HABITAT:
This species occurs in the immediate vicinity of small streams in upper cloud forest near the summit of Cerro Humo Chico (Cerro Pelon). Frogs have been found abroad during daylight hours basking on rocks in the middle of a stream, and at night resting on mossy rock walls in the spray zone of a small waterfall.
NATURAL HISTORY:
Plectrohyla celata is a medium-sized, stream-breeding species that may be found active both at night and during daylight hours. Frogs have been found abroad during daylight hours basking on rocks in the middle of a stream, and at night sitting on mossy rock walls in the spray zone of a small waterfall. It occurred in the same streams as Plectrohyla calvicollina and P. cyanomma, but all of these species are believed extirpated at their historic localities.
TAXONOMY:
In the Plectrohyla bistincta group of Faivovitch et al. (2005). When first discovered, P. celata was thought to represent a second population of P. siopela.
TYPE:
Described as Hyla celata by Toal, K.R. and Mendelson III, J.R. (1995). Holotype: KU 137103. Type locality: 0.9 kilometers north of Cerro Pelon, Sierra de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico, 2670 m (17 30′N, 96 30′W). An adult male collected by Janalee P. Caldwell and Paul B. Robertson on 10 June 1970.
PERSONAL NOTES:
I have never found this species despite several nights in it’s habitat on Cerro Humo Chico, in the Sierra de Juárez.
CONSERVATION STATUS:
IUCN Red List status of this species is “Critically Endangered” due to the deterioration and fragmentation of remaining habitat, presumed small natural range and the fact that this species has not been recorded since 1984 despite many surveys at historical localities. It is possible this species has been extirpated from all known localities, and may even be extinct.
REFERENCES:
Duellman, W.E. 2001. The Hylid Frogs of Middle America. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Ithaca, New York, USA.
Faivovich, J., C. F. B. Haddad, P. C. A. Garcia, D. R. Frost, J. A. Campbell, and W. C. Wheeler. 2005. Systematic review of the frog family Hylidae, with special reference to Hylinae: phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 294:1-240.
Lips, K.R., Mendelson III, J.R., Munoz-Alonso, A., Canseco-Marquez, L. and Mulcahy, D.G. 2004. Amphibian population declines in montane southern Mexico: resurveys of historical localities. Biological Conservation. 119:555-564.
Toal, K.R. and Mendelson III, J.R. 1995. A new species of Hyla (Anura: Hylidae) from cloud forest in Oaxaca, Mexico, with comments on the status of the Hyla bistincta group. Occasional Papers Natural History Museum University of Kansas. 174:1-20.