A new arboreal Pseudoeurycea (Caudata: Plethodontidae) from the Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz, Mexico

Abstract

We describe a new species of plethodontid salamander of the genus Pseudoeurycea from the Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz, Mexico. The new species is distinguished from all other species in the genus by morphological and genetic features and by coloration. Based on a mtDNA phylogeny, the new species belongs to the Pseudoeurycea juarezi group and is most closely related to P. ruficauda from the Sierra Mazateca in northern Oaxaca. The newly described salamander increases the number of species of plethodontid salamanders from Veracruz to 43 and those recognized from Mexico to 140.

New data on occurrence, ecology, and color variation of Pseudoeurycea jaguar (Caudata: Plethodontidae), an endemic salamander from Mexico

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Canseco-Márquez, 2022 is an endemic species of plethodontid salamander that occurs in Veracruz, Mexico. Pseudoeurycea is the most speciose genus (40 spp.)

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“…and Plethodontidae is the largest family (88% of salamander richness) present in the country (AmphibiaWeb 2023). Eleven species of Pseudoeurycea occur in the state of Veracruz (Torres-Hernández et al 2021, Cázares-Hernández et al 2022, where the type locality in the Sierra de Zongólica of P. jaguar is located. Pseudoeurycea jaguar is distinguished from other species occurring in Veracruz by its large size and the presence of irregular yellow mottled dorsal coloration on a dark brown, almost black, background that resembles the pattern of a jaguar (Cázares-Hernández et al 2022).I report here the occurrence of P. jaguar in two new localities in Mexico, which extend its…”