''Pseudoeurycea mystax'' is a species of

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

in the family

Plethodontidae Plethodontidae, or lungless salamanders, are a family of salamanders. With over 500 species, lungless salamanders are by far the largest family of salamanders in terms of their diversity. Most species are native to the Western Hemisphere, from B ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Mexico and only known from the area of its type locality in the

Sierra Madre de Oaxaca The Sierra Madre de Oaxaca is a mountain range in southeastern Mexico. It is primarily in the state of Oaxaca, and extends north into the states of Puebla and Veracruz. Geography The mountain range begins at Pico de Orizaba, and extends in a sout ...

near Ayutla,

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

. Its common name is mustache false brook salamander or mustached false brook salamander. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

refers to the whitish protuberances on the lips that resemble a mustache in the frontal view of the male

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

Description

The

type series In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

consists of two specimens, the male

measuring and the female allotype in snout–vent length. The tail is shorter than the body, with total lengths of about for the two specimens, respectively. The limbs are moderately short and stout. The dorsum is gray in its ground color with faint traces of pink especially on the snout, and with scattered black dots. The tail has some conspicuous, large white blotches.

Habitat and conservation

Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

are pine–oak and ''

Arbutus ''Arbutus'' is a genus of 12 accepted speciesAct. Bot. Mex no.99 Pátzcuaro abr. 2012.''Arbutus bicolor''/ref> of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islands a ...

'' forests at elevations of about

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. The short and stout limbs of this species suggest that it is terrestrial rather than a climber. The type locality is a ravine, although the species does not seem to be particularly associated with rivers. It tolerates some habitat disturbance as some small subpopulations survive in tiny fragments of remaining habitat.

Habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

caused by agriculture, logging, and human settlement is a major threat for this species as only small fragments of original habitat remain. This uncommon species was last been seen in 1999. However, it might be that the species is not quite as uncommon as believed, as local people report having seen salamanders that could be either ''Pseudoeurycea mystax'' or '' Pseudoeurycea cochranae''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2212163 Endemic amphibians of Mexico mystax Fauna of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca Amphibians described in 1967 Taxa named by Charles Mitchill Bogert Taxonomy articles created by Polbot