Valentine's southern dusky salamander
| Valentine's southern dusky salamander | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Urodela |
| Family: | Plethodontidae |
| Subfamily: | Plethodontinae |
| Genus: | Desmognathus |
| Species: | D. valentinei
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| Binomial name | |
| Desmognathus valentinei Means, Lamb & Bernardo, 2017
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Valentine's southern dusky salamander (Desmognathus valentinei) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the southeastern United States.[2][3]
Taxonomy[edit]
It was previously thought to be a population of Holbrook's southern dusky salamander (D. holbrooki), with both species being grouped together as the southern dusky salamander. However, a 2008 study found D. holbrooki as previously defined to be polyphyletic and containing multiple undescribed species.[4] One of these undescribed species was formally described in 2017 as D. valentinei.[5] It is named in honor of Barry D. Valentine, a biologist and former faculty emeritus at Ohio State University, who had first suggested the distinctiveness of this taxon in the early 1960s.[6]
Distribution[edit]
It is found in the Gulf Coast region, where it ranges from the Mobile Bay region of Alabama west through the southern half of Mississippi to eastern Louisiana.[4]
Description[edit]
Despite its close resemblance to D. holbrooki, it has some morphological differences. It has a larger body structure than D. holbrooki and has nondescript dorsal markings instead of the crisply-defined blotches on other Desmognathus species. They also differ in aspects of the skull, and the tails of D. valentinei have a bladelike shape instead of narrowing to a tip.[6]
References[edit]
- ^ IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2022). "Desmognathus valentinei". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T200107374A200107416. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-2.RLTS.T200107374A200107416.en. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ "Desmognathus valentinei Means, Lamb, and Bernardo, 2017 | Amphibian Species of the World". amphibiansoftheworld.amnh.org. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
- ^ "AmphibiaWeb - Desmognathus valentinei". amphibiaweb.org. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
- ^ a b Beamer, David A.; Lamb, Trip (2008-04-01). "Dusky salamanders (Desmognathus, Plethodontidae) from the Coastal Plain: Multiple independent lineages and their bearing on the molecular phylogeny of the genus". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 47 (1): 143–153. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.01.015. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 18337126.
- ^ Means, D. Bruce; Lamb, Jennifer Y.; Bernardo, Joseph (2017-05-10). "A new species of dusky salamander (Amphibia: Plethodontidae: Desmognathus) from the Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain of the United States and a redescription of D. auriculatus". Zootaxa. 4263 (3): 467–506–467–506. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4263.3.3. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 28609856. S2CID 33461333.
- ^ a b "Team that includes A&M biologist discovers new species of salamander". Research @ Texas A&M | Inform, Inspire, Amaze. 2017-08-31. Retrieved 2021-12-22.