Two new species of salamander discovered in Panama September 9,
2007 Both species are small, slender salamanders that belong to
the Bolitoglossa genus and apparently live in tropical montane
forest habitat. The salamanders have prehensile tails and appear
to be good climbers. The first species, Gomez's Web-footed
Salamander (Bolitoglossa gomezi), was named in honor of Dr. Luis
Diego Gomez, a Costa Rican botanist who was formerly Director of
the La Selva Biological Station of the Organization of Tropical
Studies. The second species, Brame's Web-footed Salamander
(Bolitoglossa bramei) was named in honor of the late Arden H.
Brame, Jr., II, in "recognition of his many contributions to the
study of Neotropical salamanders." A paratype of Bolitoglossa
gomezi that appears in Wake et al. (2007). Photo by Dr. Alan
Jaslow of Rhodes College Dr. James Hanken, a herpetologist and
Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard
University, says that while the discovery of new species is
encouraging, salamanders a