Diagnosis: Bolitoglossa striatula is a moderately small light-colored salamander with paired dorsal and lateral dark-colored longitudinal stripes, and completely webbed feet. Its venter is usually marked with several dark longitudinal streaks or stripes (Savage 2002). It can be distinguished from most other Honduran species of Bolitoglossa by its extensive webbing and by the toe tips free of the webbing being pointed to acutely rounded; from Honduran species with undifferentiated foot pads that resemble strongly webbed feet, B. striatula can be distinguished by the combination of moderate size (59 mm maximum SVL in males, 66 mm maximum SVL in females), relatively short limbs (limb interval 3.5-4 costal folds in males, 4-5 costal folds in females), moderate numbers of maxillary teeth (>=30 in Honduran specimens), and pale brown to yellowish-brown dorsum with usually incomplete thin brown dorsolateral longitudinal stripes running from just posterior to the head onto the tail (McCranie and Wilson 2002).
Description: Adults measure 81 to 130 mm in total length. Adult males are 37-54 mm in standard length, while adult females are 40-65 mm in standard length. The tail is long, measuring 49 to 55% of total length. Eyes are moderately-sized and do not protrude. Adults have 38-46 maxillary teeth and 22-24 vomerine teeth. No sublingual fold is present. The body has 13 costal grooves. Adpressed limbs are separated by 2 1/2 to 3 costal folds. Hands and feet are fully webbed and lack subterminal pads. Feet are wide. Head width is 14-16% of standard length. Leg length is 20-23% of standard length. It can be distinguished form the similar species B. schizodactyla by coloration; B. schizodactyla is brown to black and lacks longitudinal dark stripes (Savage 2002).
Dorsal and ventral surfaces are cream to yellow with paired brown dorsal stripes. Paired brown lateral stripes extend from the neck onto the base of the tail. On the sides, a cream longitudinal stripe borders a dark lateral stripe and is edged below by a black line. The mid-dorsal light field and lateral light area are marked with tiny brown spots. The venter has two blurry to clear ventrolateral stripes with a few indistinct dark streaks or stripes. Few individuals are immaculate (Savage 2002). The coloration is similar to that of a banana skin (Raffaëlli 2007).
First described by Noble (1918). The specific name striatula has Latin origins (stria, or stripe, and -ulus, meaning diminutive) and refers to the narrow brown stripes on the dorsal and ventral surfaces (McCranie and Wilson 2002).
The specimen from Limón Province, Costa Rica was originally ascribed to B. flaviventris by Taylor (1941).
Individuals from Volcán de Mombacho, Nicaragua, were formerly referred to B. striatula but are now considered a distinct species, Bolitoglossa mombachoensis (Köhler and McCranie 1999).
A Spanish-language species account can be found at the website of .
Rights Holder: AmphibiaWeb © 2000-2011 The Regents of the University of California
