Bolitoglossa orestes Brame and Wake, 1962

Barrio-Amorós, César L., Rojas-Runjaic, Fernando J. M. & Señaris, J. Celsa, 2019, Catalogue of the amphibians of Venezuela: Illustrated and annotated species list, distribution, and conservation, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 180) 13 (1), pp. 1-198 : 131-132

Bolitoglossa orestes Brame and Wake, 1962 *

Holotype: BMNH 1905.5.31.103 .

Type locality: “ Culata, 9,810 feet (3,000 meters) Cordillera de Mérida , Estado de Mérida, Venezuela.” 9,810 feet corresponds to 2,990 m .

Distribution: Region 1. Sierra de la Culata in Mérida State, Venezuela. Type locality and distribution referred to Bolitoglossa spongai is summed for B. orestes . Locality “La Mucuy” in Sierra Nevada de Mérida, given in Barrio-Amorós and Fuentes Ramos (1999: 16) for B. spongai was an editorial error; currently B. orestes is only known from Sierra de la Culata, separated from B. mucuyensis by the deep valley of Chama River. Populations from La Mucuy later described as B. mucuyensis (García-Gutiérrez et al. 2013) .

Remarks: Fermín et al. (2012) recently passed Bolitoglossa spongai Barrio-Amorós and Fuentes-Ramos, 1999 to synonymy of B. orestes , based on genetic and morphological data. Therefore, all data in literature for B. spongai ( Rodríguez and Rojas-Suárez 2008; Barrio-Amorós et al. 2010e) refers now to B. orestes . Two works on natural history and ecological traits of B. orestes : Cadenas et al. (2009) based on a population at Monte Zerpa, north of Mérida, and Barrio-Amorós et al. (2010e) under name B. spongai , about a population from cloud forests around Páramo El Tambor, Mérida State. The Venezuelan Red Book considers it Vulnerable (VU) [Barrio-Amorós and Rivas 2015].

Selected references: Brame and Wake (1962, 1963); Péfaur and Díaz de Pascual (1982); Rodríguez and Rojas-Suárez (1995, 2008); Barrio-Amorós (1998, 2004); Barrio-Amorós and Fuentes-Ramos (1999, 2004); Cadenas et al. (2009); Barrio-Amorós et al. (2010e); Fermín et al. (2012); Barrio-Amorós and Rivas (2015).