Pseudotriton diastictus Bishop, 1941

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Plethodontidae > Subfamily: Hemidactyliinae > Genus: Pseudotriton > Species: Pseudotriton diastictus

Triturus hypoxanthus Rafinesque, 1820, Ann. Nat., Lexington, 1: 4. Type(s): Not designated or known to exist. Type locality: "Kentucky", USA. Considered a nomen dubium by Gray, 1850, Cat. Spec. Amph. Coll. Brit. Mus., Batr. Grad.: 50. Tentative synonymy with Pseudotriton montanus by Dunn, 1926, Salamanders Fam. Plethodontidae: 286. Assigned to this synonymy on the basis of geography (DRF).

Pseudotriton montanus diastictus Bishop, 1941, Occas. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, 451: 14. Holotype: MCZ 25797, by original designation. Type locality: "Cascade Caverns, Carter County, Kentucky", USA.

Pseudotriton diastictusCollins, 1991, Herpetol. Rev., 22: 43.

Gyrinophilus montanus diastictus — Fouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 115. See comment under Pseudotriton montanus regarding the generic change and the species concepts applied.

English Names

Central Red Salamander (Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 386).

Midland Mud Salamander (Pseudotriton montanus diastictus: Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 48; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 175; Conant, 1975, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. Cent. N. Am., Ed. 2: 286; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 8; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 34; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 9; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 22; Pseudotriton diastictus: Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 15; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 31; Powell, Conant, and Collins, 2016, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. North Am., 4th ed.: 71; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 33).

Distribution

Southern Ohio, and southwestern West Virginia south through Kentucky, central and eastern Tennessee, and Virginia west of the Appalachian Divide to extreme northern Georgia, USA.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: United States of America, United States of America - Georgia, United States of America - Indiana, United States of America - Kentucky, United States of America - Ohio, United States of America - Tennessee, United States of America - Virginia, United States of America - West Virginia

Endemic: United States of America

Comment

Recognized as a distinct species by Collins, 1991, Herpetol. Rev., 22: 43, because of its allopatry and consistent diagnosability from Pseudotriton montanus. See comments under Pseudotriton montanusRaffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 232, provided a brief account, photograph, and map. Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 33, retained the allopatric and diagnosable Pseudotriton diastictus as a subspecies of Pseudotriton montanus on the basis of lack of information on "genetic differentiation", suggesting these authors are applying a measure of sequence divergence as a species criterion. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 510, provided species and subspecies accounts, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).

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