Bolitoglossa bramei, Wake, Savage & Hanken, 2007

Arias, Erick, Chaves, Gerardo, Kubicki, Brian & Parra-Olea, Gabriela, 2024, Taxonomic assessment of the Bolitoglossa (Eladinea) subgenus (Caudata: Plethodontidae) with the description of two new species from the Cordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica, Zootaxa 5537 (2), pp. 211-233 : 218

Additional morphological and distributional data for B. bramei Wake et al. 2007.

This species was described by Wake et al. (2007) based on specimens from Cerro Pando and Boquete, at 1900– 2300 m a.s.l. Wake et al. (2007) described this species as slender and relatively small (SL = 37.6–39.1 mm). Our specimens from Echandi and Tres Colinas are similar to those described by Wake et al. (2007), and it is the most common species in the latter location. However, we found two larger (SL = 45.4 mm) and robust specimens of B. bramei in Fábregas (UCR23698–9; Table 1 , Figs. 2 and 3C ). With the new information, B. bramei expands its standard length (SVL, Table 1 ) now to 45.4 mm and its altitudinal distribution to a range of 1900–3300 m a.s.l. ( Fig. 1 ), its longitudinal distribution increases 48 km west in the Talamanca Mountain range, and the species’ habitat ranges from Tropical Lower Montane rainforest, Montane rainforest, and into Subalpine rain páramo ( Holdridge 1967; Bolaños et al. 2005).

Figures

FIGURE 1.A) Map of the Cordillera de Talamanca in the Costa Rica-Panamá border-line region showing all known populations of the seven species within the Bolitoglossa diminuta Species Group. B) Map showing the localities for B. bramei, B. pygmaea, B. robinsoni, and B. silentium sp. nov. on the Fábregas and Echandi massifs. The open shape indicates the historical data and the solid shape indicates the localities with molecular data included herein.

FIGURE 2. Bayesian phylogenetic inference shows the relationships of the Bolitoglossa (Eladinea) subgenus based on the 16S and cyt b mitochondrial DNA gene fragments. Bootstraps proportions from maximum likelihood are shown above branches. Below the branches are shown posterior probabilities (multiplied by 100) from BEAST analysis (right) and posterior probabilities (multiplied by 100) from MrBayes analysis (left). The scale bar refers to the estimated substitutions per site. The support values of nodes within species are not shown. The asterisks represent support of 100. N.V. = no a voucher.

FIGURE 3. Photograph in preservation of (A) Bolitoglossa robinsoni (UCR11216), holotype from Cerro Echandi and inlife photographs of species found in the Talamanca Mountain range during this study. (B) B. bramei (UCR21930) from Valle del Silencio, (C) B. bramei (UCR23698) from Cerro Fábregas, (D) B. diminuta (UCR24413) from Tapantí, (E) B. pygmaea (UCR23697) from Cerro Fábregas, and (F) B. pygmaea (no collected) from Cerro Echandi. Photos by E. Arias (A,C,E), Victor Acosta (B), Brian Kubicki (D), and Omar Zúñiga (F).