Bordered Screw-moss vs Coffee Grove Salamander

Tortula marginata compared with Aquiloeurycea cafetalera

Key Differences

Bordered Screw-moss is Endangered while Coffee Grove Salamander is Vulnerable.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Bordered Screw-moss	Coffee Grove Salamander
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Bryophyta	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Bryopsida (Bryopsida)	Amphibia (Amphibians)
Order	Pottiales (Pottiales)	Caudata (Caudata)
Family	Pottiaceae	Plethodontidae
Genus	Tortula	Aquiloeurycea
Species	Tortula marginata	Aquiloeurycea cafetalera

Conservation Status

Bordered Screw-moss

EN — Endangered

Coffee Grove Salamander

VU — Vulnerable

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Bordered Screw-moss	Coffee Grove Salamander
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Bordered Screw-moss

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, tundra, and tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests spanning the Australasia and Oceanian realms.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, and Portugal. Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Coffee Grove Salamander

Habitat

Typically found in freshwater habitats, moist forests, and wetlands.

Range

Found in Mexico. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Bordered Screw-moss

The Bordered Screw-moss (Tortula marginata) is a species in the genus Tortula. It is currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Found across multiple habitat types including temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, tundra, and tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests spanning the Australasia and Oceanian realms.

Coffee Grove Salamander

The Coffee Grove Salamander (Aquiloeurycea cafetalera) is a small, fully terrestrial plethodontid salamander in the family Plethodontidae, endemic to the cloud forests and coffee agroforestry zones of the Sierra de Juárez in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Like all plethodontid salamanders, it is lungless, relying entirely on cutaneous gas exchange through its moist skin, making it exquisitely sensitive to desiccation and temperature changes. Adults are slender, with a reddish-brown dorsum and light-coloured venter, typically measuring 5–8 centimetres in total length. The species inhabits cool, humid cloud forest floor environments and the leaf litter and bark of shade-grown coffee plantations at elevations approximately between 1,500 and 2,500 metres—an association that gives it its common name. The presence of this salamander in coffee agroforestry systems highlights the biodiversity value of traditional shade-grown cultivation compared to sun-grown monocultures. The Coffee Grove Salamander is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN due to its restricted distribution, estimated extent of occurrence below 5,000 square kilometres, and ongoing threats from habitat loss through deforestation, conversion to sun-grown coffee cultivation, and climate-driven changes to cloud forest conditions. No ex situ conservation programmes are known to be in place.