Nototriton (Taylorotriton) richardi ( Taylor, 1949 )

Kubicki, Brian, Reyes, Aura & Arias, Erick, 2022, Revised taxonomy and distributions of Costa Rican moss salamanders (Caudata: Plethodontidae: Nototriton), with descriptions of new taxa, Zootaxa 5194 (4), pp. 451-496 : 475

Nototriton (Taylorotriton) richardi ( Taylor, 1949)

Richard’s moss salamander

Parvimolge richardi Taylor (1949: 284)

Chiropterotriton richardi Wake & Lynch (1976: 60)

Nototriton richardi Wake & Elias (1983: 11)

Nototrtion (Nototriton) richardi Dubois & Raffaëlli (2012: 141)

Holotype. RCT 1436 (Richard C. Taylor field number), by original designation, but currently housed at the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, FMNH 178295 , an adult female from Costa Rica: Provincia de Alajuela: Cantón de Alajuela: Distrito de Sarapiquí : Isla Bonita : American Cinchona Plantation , ca. 6500 feet (ca. 1980 m a.s.l.), collected by Richard Clark Taylor on 1 August 1947.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a patronym, used as a noun in the masculine genitive case, in dedication to Richard Clark Taylor (1926–2002), the son of Edward Harrison Taylor (1889–1978). Richard Taylor joined his father while searching for reptiles and amphibians during an expedition to Costa Rica in 1947, and collected the hototype of this taxon.

Distribution. Nototriton richardi is endemic to Costa Rica and is only known to inhabit the Caribbean slopes of the Cordillera Volcanica Central at elvations from roughly 1300–1800 m a.s.l. ( Savage 2002). Specimens have been collected from within a swath ranging from the northwestern slopes of the Irazu Volcano to the eastern flanks of Juan Castro Blanco National Park.