Crater salamander
species of amphibian
The crater salamander (Bolitoglossa marmorea), also known as the marbled crater salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Costa Rica and Panama. Its natural habitat is subtropical, high-altitude moist montane forests. It has a small area of distribution (less than 5000 km2 and fewer than five locations) and is threatened by habitat loss therein.
Appearance
The crater salamander is a moderately sized salamander. Adults of the species typically range from 128 to 134 millimeters. It is colored purplish-brown with small yellow spots and flecking across its body. The tail of this salamander composes approximately 48–56% of its total length.
Habitat and ecology
The crater salamander is found in humid montane forest and is nocturnal, meaning it sleeps under rocks during the day and is found on mossy trunks and tree limbs at night.
It inhabits the lower montane and montane slopes of southern Cordillera de Talamanca of eastern Costa Rica and western Panama.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2211080. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Crater salamander” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.