Chinajá, 1.
An adult female having minute ovarian eggs has a snout-vent length of 81 mm., a tail length of 59 mm., 13 costal grooves, two intercostal spaces between adpressed toes, 38-35 vomerine teeth in irregular rows forming a broad arch from a point posterolaterad to the internal nares to a point near the anterior edge of the parasphenoid teeth, and 43-44 maxilliary-premaxillary teeth. In life the dorsum was rusty brown with irregular black and orange spots and streaks. The flanks were bluish gray with black in the costal grooves and creamy tan flecks along the ventral edge of the flank. The belly and underside of the tail were yellowish tan with dark brown spots laterally. The limbs were orange proximally and black distally; the pads of the feet were bluish black. The dorsal and lateral surfaces of the tail were yellowish orange with black spots. The iris was grayish yellow.
Stuart (1943:17) reported this species from Finca Volcán, Alta Verapaz. He diagnosed his specimens as having 13 costal grooves and two or three intercostal spaces between adpressed toes. He stated that the vomerine teeth were about 12 in number and that in life the dorsum was mottled gray and black, the sides gray and brown, and the undersurfaces uniformly dark gray. These specimens differ noticeably from the individual from Chinajá in the number of vomerine teeth and in coloration.
In August, 1961, I obtained a specimen of Bolitoglossa dofleini at Finca Los Alpes, Alta Verapaz, approximately 13 kilometers airline south-southwest of Finca Volcán and at approximately the same elevation. Although the salamander was dead when found, it obviously was more heavily pigmented than the individual from Chinajá. The belly was bluish gray with black spots laterally; the dorsum was dull brownish gray with some brownish red streaks. The specimen is a female having small ovarian eggs, a snout-vent length of 90 mm., 13 costal grooves, and two intercostal spaces between adpressed limbs. There are 28-29 vomerine teeth, more than twice as many as in specimens from Finca Volcán (Stuart, 1943:17), but noticeably fewer than in the specimen from Chinajá.
The presence of this species at Chinajá lends support to the idea that the specimen from the Río de la Pasión listed by Brocchi (1882:116) also is Bolitoglossa dofleini. Furthermore, the confirmed presence of this species in the lowlands of El Petén suggests that there may be genetic connection between B. dofleini in the Alta Verapaz and B. yucatana in the Yucatán Peninsula. Bolitoglossa yucatana differs from B. dofleini in having five intercostal spaces between adpressed toes and in having a different color pattern. Both are robust species having no close relationships to other species of Bolitoglossa in northern Central America.
The specimen from Chinajá was found in water in the axil of a large elephant-ear plant (Xanthosoma) by day in March. Its stomach contained fragments of beetles and a large roach. The natives did not know salamanders and had no name for them.
Bolitoglossa moreleti mulleri (Brocchi)
Chinajá, 2; Río San Román, 1.
One specimen is a female having a snout-vent length of 80 mm., a tail length of 82 mm., and a total length of 162 mm. It contains 63 large eggs, the largest of which has a diameter of about three millimeters. This specimen has 13 costal grooves, four intercostal spaces between adpressed toes, and 12-13 vomerine teeth. A juvenile having a snout-vent length of 39 mm. and a tail length of 33 mm. has 12 costal grooves, three intercostal spaces between adpressed toes, and 8-8 vomerine teeth. In life these salamanders were uniformly dull brownish black above with a dull creamy yellow irregular dorsal stripe beginning on the occiput and continuing onto the tail. There are no yellow or orange streaks or flecks on the head or limbs. The specimen from the Río San Román was taken from the stomach of a Pliocercus euryzonus aequalis and has not been studied in detail, because of its poor condition.
The present specimens show no tendency for the development of a broad irregular dorsal band that encloses black spots or forms irregular dorsolateral stripes, as is characteristic of B. moreleti mexicanus, a subspecies that has been reported from La Libertad (Stuart, 1935:35) and Piedras Negras (Taylor and Smith, 1945:545) in El Petén, and from Xunantunich, British Honduras (Neill and Allen, 1959:20).