Bolitoglossa paraensis (Unterstein, 1930)

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

Oedipus paraensis Unterstein, 1930, Zool. Anz., 87: 271. Holotype: ZMB 32907, now lost, according to Brame and Wake, 1963, Contrib. Sci. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 69: XXX; Bauer, Good, and Günther, 1993, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 69: 299. MPEG 31682 designated neotype by Brcko, Hoogmoed, and Neckel de Oliveira, 2013, Zootaxa, 3686: 408. Type locality: "Sta. Isabel bei Para", Brazil. Neotype from "Sítio Semente Etérea, 01° 12’ 10,49” S, 48° 18’ 02,43” W, Vila do Carapuru, Municipality of Santa Isabel do Pará, state of Pará, Brazil, 30 m elevation". Gutsche, Tillack, and Mahlow, 2017, Zootaxa, 4282: 395–400, found the original holotype, redescribed it and set aside the neotype. 

Eladinea estheri Miranda-Ribeiro, 1937, O Campo, 8: 42. Syntypes: MNRJ 68 (4 specimens), according to Miranda-Ribeiro, 1955, Arq. Mus. Nac., Rio de Janeiro, 42: 407. Type locality: "Utinga", near Belém do Pará, Brazil. Synonymy with Bolitoglossa paraensis by Parker, 1939, Mem. Mus. R. Hist. Nat. Belg., Ser. 2, 2: 85-90; Parra-Olea, García-París, and Wake, 2004, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 81: 336; in the synonymy of Bolitoglossa altamazonica of Brame and Wake, 1963, Contrib. Sci. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 69: 13.

Bolitoglossa paraensis — Taylor, 1944, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 30: 219.

Bolitoglossa (Eladinea) paraensis — Parra-Olea, García-París, and Wake, 2004, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 81: 325.

Common Names

Para Mushroomtongue Salamander (Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 732).

Distribution

Known from the eastern part of the state of Pará, Brazil, in the west from the Pará river, and localities on both sides of the Guamá River, both southern affluents of the Amazon River, in the east close to the Atlantic coast and to the border with Maranhão, in the municipalities Barcarena, Belém, Bragança, Benevides, Canindé, Mojú, Ourém, Primavera, Santa Bárbara do Pará, Santa Isabel do Pará, and Tailândia, elevations from 10 to 40 m; possibly extending into Maranhão and Amapá. Unnamed allied species in Ecuador. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Brazil

Endemic: Brazil

Comment

In the Bolitoglossa (Eladinea) adspersa group of Parra-Olea, García-París, and Wake, 2004, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 81: 336, who removed it from the synonymy of Bolitoglossa altamazonica, where it had been placed by Brame and Wake, 1963, Contrib. Sci. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 69: 13. Raffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Monde: 259, provided a brief account, photograph, and map, and who suggested that the status of Eladinea estheri needed to be reevaluated. Brcko, Hoogmoed, and Neckel de Oliveira, 2013, Zootaxa, 3686:  408-416, provided an account, redelimited the species, noted the possibility of a larger range, and noted the literature in which this species was confused with Bolitoglossa altamazonica. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 336, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map and discussed two possible unnamed cryptic species in the complex. Elmer, Bonett, Wake, and Lougheed, 2013, BMC Evol. Biol., 13(59): 1–16, noted two unnamed but allied species in Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador.  Gutsche, Tillack, and Mahlow, 2017, Zootaxa, 4282: 395–400, reescribed the original holotype. Correa and Rodrigues, 2017, Salamandra, 53: 445–450, discussed the microhabitats distribution of the species in Gunma Ecological Park, Pará, Brazil. Note that the sequence assigned to Bolitoglossa paraensis (Acre, Brazil) by Parra-Olea, García-París, and Wake, 2004, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 81Parra: 325–346, was assigned by Brcko, Hoogmoed, and Neckel de Oliveira, 2013, Zootaxa, 3686: 401–431. For comparison of morphometric and dentition characters of Bolitoglossa altamazonica, Bolitoglossa peruviana, Bolitoglossa caldwellae, Bolitoglossa paraensis, Bolitoglossa palmata, and Bolitoglossa awafun, see  Cusi Martínez, Gagliardi-Urrutia, Brcko, Wake, and von May, 2020, Zootaxa, 4834: Tables 6–7. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 732–733, provided an account summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).   

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