''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 ten ...

in the family Plethodontidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

to Mexico and only known from the area of its type locality in the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca near Ayutla,

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

. 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 is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

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 attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

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, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and 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 ...

are pine–oak and '' Arbutus'' forests at elevations of about

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

. 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 and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

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