Buff-throated Saltator vs Coffee Grove Salamander

Saltator maximus compared with Aquiloeurycea cafetalera

Key Differences

• Buff-throated Saltator is Least Concern while Coffee Grove Salamander is Vulnerable.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Buff-throated Saltator	Coffee Grove Salamander
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Amphibia (Amphibians)
Order	Passeriformes (Songbirds)	Caudata (Caudata)
Family	Thraupidae	Plethodontidae
Genus	Saltator	Aquiloeurycea
Species	Saltator maximus	Aquiloeurycea cafetalera

Evolutionary Relationship

Buff-throated Saltator and Coffee Grove Salamander share a common ancestor at the Phylum level: Chordata. (Chordates)

Conservation Status

Buff-throated Saltator

LC — Least Concern

Coffee Grove Salamander

VU — Vulnerable

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Buff-throated Saltator	Coffee Grove Salamander
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Buff-throated Saltator

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

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.

Buff-throated Saltator

A large, handsome saltator of humid forest, forest edge, and secondary woodland from Mexico through Central America and south to Bolivia and Brazil, buff-throated saltators display green upper parts with a distinctive white supercilium, black malar stripe, and warm buff throat. They are common in forest margins and gardens, producing rich, melodious warbling songs. They forage on seeds, fruit, and buds, occasionally joining mixed-species flocks. One of the most frequently observed saltators across their broad neotropical range.

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.