Ambystoma texanum (Matthes, 1855)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Ambystomatidae > Genus: Ambystoma > Species: Ambystoma texanum

Salamandra texana Matthes, 1855, Allg. Deutsche Naturhist. Zeitung,, N.S.,, 1: 266. Syntypes: Including NHMW 22920, according to Häupl and Tiedemann, 1978, Kat. Wiss. Samml. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, 2: 13, Häupl, Tiedemann, and Grillitsch, 1994, Kat. Wiss. Samml. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, 9: 17, and Gemel, Gassner, and Schweiger, 2019, Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, Ser. B, 121: 43. Type locality: "Das erste Exemplar fand ich . . . im Urwalde am Rio Colorado, das zweite ebenfalls . . . im Cumming's Creeck [sic] Bottom, Fayette County" (= Rio Colorado and Cumming's Creek Bottom, Fayette County), Texas, USA; restricted to "Rio Colorado bottom land", Texas, USA, by Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 21, although because it was not based on evidence, it is invalid according to Fouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 79. Data with NHMW syntype is "Texas", according to Häupl, Tiedemann, and Grillitsch, 1994, Kat. Wiss. Samml. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, 9: 17.

Amblystoma texanumBaird, 1859, Rep. U.S-Mex. Bound. Surv., 2(Pt. 2-Rept.): 29; Cope, 1868 "1867", Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 19: 204. Incorrect subsequent spelling of the genus. 

Amblystoma microstomum Cope, 1861, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 13: 123. Holotype: ANSP 1285 according to Fowler and Dunn, 1917, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 69: 10; ANSP 2286, according to Malnate, 1971, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 123: 348. Type locality: "Ohio", USA (? Wabash River, Indiana, USA; see Fowler and Dunn, 1917, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 69:11). See Anderson, 1967: 37.2 for comments. Synonymy by Strecker and Williams, 1928, Contr. Baylor Univ. Mus., 17: 3–19. Incorrect subsequent spelling of the genus. 

Chondrotus microstomusCope, 1887, Am. Nat., 21: 88, by implication; Cope, 1889, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 34: 99, 101.

Chondrotus texanusCope, 1889, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 34: 99, 104.

Ambystoma microstomumStrecker, 1915, Baylor Univ. Bull., 18: 56; Fowler and Dunn, 1917, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 69: 11.

Ambystoma texanum — Stejneger and Barbour, 1917, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept.: 12.

Ambystoma schmidti Taylor, 1939 "1938", Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 25: 263. Holotype: EHT-HMS 3999, by original designation; now UIMNH 25042 according to Brame and Gorham, 1972, Checklist Living & Fossil Salamand. World (Unpubl. MS): 140. Type locality: "10 miles east of San Martín (Asuncion) at Rancho Guadalupe", México, Mexico (in error). Synonymy by Kraus and Nussbaum, 1989, J. Herpetol., 23: 78–79.

Ambystoma (Linguaelapsus) schmidtiTihen, 1958, Bull. Florida State Mus., Biol. Sci., 3: 3, 43.

Ambystoma (Linguaelapsus) texanum — Tihen, 1958, Bull. Florida State Mus., Biol. Sci., 3: 3, 43.

Linguaelapsus schmidtiFreytag, 1959, Vierteiljahrschrift Naturforsch. Ges. Zürich, 104: 79–89.

Linguaelapsus texanusFreytag, 1959, Vierteiljahrschrift Naturforsch. Ges. Zürich, 104: 79–89.

Ambystoma nothagenes Kraus, 1985, Occas. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, 709: 14. Holotype: UMMZ 176237, by original designation. Type locality: "Kelley's Island, Erie County, Ohio", USA. Synonymy by Bogart, Lowcock, Zeyl, and Mable, 1987, Canad. J. Zool., 65: 2188–2201, who considered this named based on nonparthenogenetic hybrids of Ambystoma texanum x Ambystoma laterale.

Ambystoma nothogenesFrank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 27. Misspelling.

Ambystoma (Linguaelapsus) texanumDubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77–161.

English Names

Texas Salamander (Ambystoma texanum: Yarrow, 1882, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 24: 21; Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 155).

Texan Salamander (Ambystoma texanum: Strecker, 1915, Baylor Univ. Bull., 18: 56; Smith, 1934, Am. Midl. Nat., 15: 396).

Small-mouthed Salamander (Ambystoma texanum: Smith, 1934, Am. Midl. Nat., 15: 396; Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 155; Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 21; Conant, 1975, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. Cent. N. Am., Ed. 2: 253; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 18; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 14; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 24; Powell, Conant, and Collins, 2016, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. North Am., 4th ed.: 36).

Narrow-mouthed Salamander (Ambystoma texanum: Viosca, 1949, Pop. Sci. Bull., Louisiana Acad. Sci., 1: 9).

Smallmouth Salamander (Ambystoma texanum: Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 4; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 27; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 5; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 10; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 23).

Porphyry Salamander (Ambystoma microstomum [no longer recognized]: Yarrow, 1882, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 24: 21).

Small-mouthed Salamander (Ambystoma microstomum [no longer recognized]: Jordan, 1878, Man. Vert. North. U.S., Ed. 2: 196; Hay, 1892, Annu. Rep. Dept. Geol. Nat. Res. Indiana for 1891: 427; Strecker, 1915, Baylor Univ. Bull., 18: 56).

Kelley's Island Salamander (Ambystoma nothagenes: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 27).

Distribution

From eastern Ohio and western Kentucky west to southern Iowa and south to eastern Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and northwestern Alabama, USA; and from Pelee Island of Ontario, Canada.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Canada, United States of America, United States of America - Alabama, United States of America - Arkansas, United States of America - Illinois, United States of America - Indiana, United States of America - Iowa, United States of America - Kansas, United States of America - Kentucky, United States of America - Louisiana, United States of America - Michigan, United States of America - Mississippi, United States of America - Missouri, United States of America - Nebraska, United States of America - Ohio, United States of America - Oklahoma, United States of America - Tennessee, United States of America - Texas

Comment

See detailed accounts by Anderson, 1967, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 37: 1–2 (including Ambystoma barbouri populations at that time), Petranka, 1998, Salamand. U.S. Canada: 103–107, and Trauth, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 634–636. Morris and Brandon, 1984, Copeia, 1984: 324–337, reported on sexual parasitism by polyploids tentatively identified as Ambystoma platineum. Bogart, 2003, in Sever (ed.), Reprod. Biol. Phylogeny Urodela: 109–134, discussed complex hybridization with Ambystoma jeffersonianum, Ambystoma laterale, and Ambystoma tigrinum. Involved in widespread development of hybrid swarms with Ambystoma laterale, Ambystoma jeffersonianum, and Ambystoma tigrinum (see Petranka, 1998, Salamand. U.S. Canada: 122–129, for summary). Denton, Kenyon, Greenwald, and Gibbs, 2014, Mol. Ecol., 23: 2811–2824, reported on introgression of Ambystoma barbouri mtDNA into this species.  Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 112, provided a brief account, photo, and map. Altig and McDiarmid, 2015, Handb. Larval Amph. US and Canada: 93–94, provided an account of larval morphology. Bogart, 2019, Herpetologica, 75: 259–267, reviewed the hybrid unisexual populations associated with this species. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 178–180, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). Bassett, 2023, Reptiles & Amphibians, 30(e18486): 1–18, provided an updated county distribution map for Texas, USA.  

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