Plethodon fourchensis Duncan and Highton, 1979

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Plethodontidae > Subfamily: Plethodontinae > Genus: Plethodon > Species: Plethodon fourchensis

Plethodon fourchensis Duncan and Highton, 1979, Copeia, 1979: 109. Holotype: USNM 204835, by original designation. Type locality: "1.5 km west, 0.3 km south of the top of Wolf Pinnacle Mountain, Polk County, Arkansas", USA.

Plethodon (Plethodon) fourchensisVieites, Nieto-Roman, Wake, and Wake, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 59: 632, by implication.

English Names

Fourche Mountain Salamander (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 32; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 8; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 26; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 20; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 14; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 29; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 31).

Distribution

Higher elevations of Fourche Mountain and Irons Fork Mountain, Polk and Scott counties, Arkansas, USA, 503–730 m elevation.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: United States of America, United States of America - Arkansas

Endemic: United States of America, United States of America - Arkansas

Comment

In the Plethodon glutinosus group of Highton and Larson, 1979, Syst. Zool., 28: 579–599. Reviewed by Highton, 1986, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 391. Petranka, 1998, Salamand. U.S. Canada: 387, considered Plethodon fourchensis to be a synonym of Plethodon ouachitae on the basis of a broad hybrid zone. Anthony, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 808, provided a detailed account that summarized the biology and conservation literature. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 583. Shepard and Burbrink, 2009, Mol. Ecol., 18: 2243–2262, reported on molecular phylogeography. Shepard, Irwin, and Burbrink, 2011, Herpetologica, 67: 355–368, reported on morphological diversification on the landscape. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 404, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 933, provided an account summarizing systematics, morphology, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). 

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