Bolitoglossa "altamazonica" Cusi, Gagliardi-Urrutia, Brcko, Wake, and von May, 2020

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Plethodontidae > Subfamily: Hemidactyliinae > Genus: Bolitoglossa > Species: Bolitoglossa "altamazonica"

Bolitoglossa "altamazonica" Cusi Martínez, Gagliardi-Urrutia, Brcko, Wake, and von May, 2020, Zootaxa, 4834: 395. 

Common Names

None noted. 

Distribution

An informal collection of populations, not a formal taxon, that include many unnamed species that will likely continue to be identified by some as Bolitoglossa altamazonica, with ranges from the eastern and lower slopes of the Andes from Venezuela and Colombia to Bolivia and east into adjacent Brazil. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela

Comment

See Bolitoglossa altamazonica, Bolitoglossa awajun, Bolitoglossa caldwellae, Bolitoglossa equatoriana, Bolitoglossa madeira, Bolitoglossa paraensis, Bolitoglossa peruviana, and Bolitoglossa tapajonica. 

The most complete summary of the literature of this complex of many unnamed species is by Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 719–732, who provided an account summarizing the scientifically flawed and incompletely elucidated systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including polygon maps of named and unnamed lineages). 

Additional literature prior to the appearance of Raffaelli's summary (2022): In the Bolitoglossa (Eladinea) adspersa group of Parra-Olea, García-París, and Wake, 2004, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 81: 336; formerly in the Bolitoglossa altamazonica group of Wake and Lynch, 1976, Sci. Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 25: 1-65. See account by Brame and Wake, 1963, Contrib. Sci. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 69: 13. Crump, 1978 "1977", Herpetologica, 33: 415-426, discussed diagnostic features and habitat preference (as Bolitoglossa altamazonica). De la Riva, Köhler, Lötters, and Reichle, 2000, Rev. Esp. Herpetol., 14: 52, noted that this species is likely a composite of several species (in part amerliorated by the removal of Bolitoglossa paraensis from synonymy by Parra-Olea, García-París, and Wake, 2004, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 81: 336). Schargel and Rivas-Fuenmayor, 2003, Herpetozoa, Wien, 16: 94-96, provided the Venezuelan record from the state of Táchira (as Bolitoglossa altamazonica). Lynch, 2006, Caldasia, 28: 136, noted that a previous record from the Magdalena Valley in Colombia was based on a misidentification. Köhler and Lötters, 1999, Bonn. Zool. Beitr., 48: 269, discussed briefly the known range in Bolivia (as Bolitoglossa altamazonica). Acosta-Galvis and Gutiérrez-Lamus, 2012, Pap. Avulsos Zool., São Paulo, 52: 212, suggested that records attributed to this species form the Magdalena Valley of Colombia may actually be Bolitoglossa lozanoi. Brcko, Hoogmoed, and Neckel de Oliveira, 2013, Zootaxa, 3686: 423-425, provided an account that compared it with closely related species in Brazil, and provided a range map (as Bolitoglossa altamazonica). Elmer, Bonett, Wake, and Lougheed, 2013, BMC Evol. Biol., 13(59): 1–16, reported on cryptic diversity within the nominal species and biogeography and suggested that minimally those populations of nominal Bolitoglossa peruviana found in the Orellana and Pastaza provinces, Ecuador, are more closely related to Bolitoglossa altamazonica, although likely reflecting that Bolitoglossa altamazonica as currently understood is a species complex and that only populations from the vicinity of the type locality (Nauta, Lorto, Peru) can confidently be considered to be Bolitoglossa altamazonica sensu stricto. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 338, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map and discussed the taxonomic implications of the results of Elmer et al. (2013) in some detail. Köhler, John, and Böhme, 2006, Salamandra, 42: 21–27, provided a record for the Yungas de La Paz region of La Paz Province, Bolivia, possibly referable to this taxon, although they discussed the problematic nature of the systematics of this complex. Llanqui, Salas, and Oblitas, 2019, Check List, 15: 773–796, noted a morphologically distinct population in the vicinity of La Nube Biological Station, Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, southeastern Peru, which they implied may be taxonomically distinct. See brief account (as Bolitoglossa cf. altamazonica) for the Manu region, Peru, by Villacampa-Ortega, Serrano-Rojas, and Whitworth, 2017, Amph. Manu Learning Cent.: 270–271. See Bolitoglossa awajun, a segregate of this complex named in 2020. See account, complete with tree, demonstrating the disarray of the complex by Cusi Martínez, Gagliardi-Urrutia, Brcko, Wake, and von May, 2020, Zootaxa, 4834: 389–406.

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