Coffee Grove Salamander vs Monkey Apple

Aquiloeurycea cafetalera compared with Annona glabra

Key Differences

Coffee Grove Salamander is Vulnerable while Monkey Apple is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Coffee Grove Salamander	Monkey Apple
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Amphibia (Amphibians)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Caudata (Caudata)	Magnoliales (Magnoliales)
Family	Plethodontidae	Annonaceae
Genus	Aquiloeurycea	Annona
Species	Aquiloeurycea cafetalera	Annona glabra

Conservation Status

Coffee Grove Salamander

VU — Vulnerable

Monkey Apple

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Coffee Grove Salamander	Monkey Apple
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic 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.

Monkey Apple

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and deserts and xeric shrublands spanning the Australasia and Indomalayan realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (Guinea, Seychelles), Asia (6 countries), North America (Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras), Oceania and the Pacific (6 countries), and South America (Brazil, Colombia).

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.