Subadult, 10,500′, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Adult, 10,500′, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Adults, 11,000′, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
PRIMEVAL SPLAY-FOOTED SALAMANDER
Chiropterotriton priscus – Rabb 1956
IDENTIFICATION:
DISTRIBUTION:
HABITAT:
Habitat, 10,500′, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Meadow Edge Habitat, 10,500′, Tamaulipas, Mexico
NATURAL HISTORY:
TAXONOMY:
Populations of Chiropterotriton from Cerro Pena Nevada in Tamaulipas and adjacent Nuevo Leon although currently recognized as C. priscus, may represent an unnamed species. They are characterized by having white ventral coloration and different proportions than northern populations.
TYPE:
Described as Chiropterotriton prisca by Rabb (1956). Holotype: FMNH 95999. Type locality: “at an elevation of 8,000 feet on Cerro PotosÃ, near Ojo de Agua, about eleven miles west-northwest of Galeana, Nuevo León, Mexico”.
PERSONAL NOTES:
I have seen this species both on Cerro Potosi, Nuevo Leon and on Cerro Pena Nevada in Tamaulipas. They were extremely abundant at both locations, being found under nearly any surface object whether it be rock, woody debris, or within dead agave and sotol. On Cerro Potosi I found them from the top (12,000′ elevation) to nearly the base of the mountain one afternoon in May, 2003. The first thunderstorm of the season had just occurred, and had dumped a large amount of hail for about 45 minutes prior to our arrival; salamanders were especially abundant in road-side rock scree. At night, dozens of Chiropterotriton were found on a spring-seep roadcut near the base of Cerro Potosi. This species occurs in microsympatry with Pseudoeurycea galeanae at both aforementioned localities.
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