Ambystoma amblycephalum Taylor, 1940

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

Ambystoma amblycephala Taylor, 1940 "1939", Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 26: 420. Holotype: EHT-HMS 16443, by original deisgnation; now FMNH 100104 according to Marx, 1976, Fieldiana, Zool., 69: 35. Type locality: "15 km. west of Morelia [Tacícuaro], Michoacán", Mexico.

Ambystoma amblycephalumSmith and Taylor, 1948, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 194: 13. Justified emendation.

Ambystoma (Ambystoma) amplycephalumTihen, 1958, Bull. Florida State Mus., Biol. Sci., 3: 3, 35.

Ambystoma flavipiperatum Dixon, 1963, Copeia, 1963: 99. Holotype: TCWC 12779, by original designation. Type locality: "one mile north of Santa Cruz, Jalisco, Mexico, 4,900 ft altitude". Synonymy by Everson, Gray, Jones, Lawrence, Foley, Sovacool, Kratovil, Hotaling, Hime, Storfer, Parra-Olea, Percino-Daniel, Aguilar-Miguel, O'Neill, Zambrano, Shaffer, and Weisrock, 2021, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 18 (17: e2014719118). Supplementary information: 3.  

Ambystoma (Heterotriton) amblycephalumDubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77–161.

Ambystoma (Heterotriton) flavipiperatum — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77–161.

 

English Names

Blunthead Salamander (Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 8; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 26).

Blunt-headed Salamander (Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 27).

Yellow-peppered Salamander (Ambystoma flavipiperatum [no longer recognized]: Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 9; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 27; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 27).

Distribution

From 3 km south of Quila El Grande and Tapalpa, Jalisco, east through northern Michoacán, Mexico, 1995 to 2100 m elevation; see comment regarding population from Nahuatzen, Michoacán state, Mexico.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Mexico

Endemic: Mexico

Comment

 Raffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Mondeezembed: 84–85, provided a brief accounts (as Ambystoma flavipiperatum and Ambystoma amblycephalum), figures, and maps. See map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 543. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 97, provided brief accounts (as Ambystoma amblycephalum and Ambystoma flavipiperatum), photos, and maps. Ahumada-Carrillo, Reyna-Bustos, and Vázquez-Ruiz, 2014, Herpetol. Rev., 45: 85, provided a range extension (as Ambystoma flavipiperatum) in Jalisco, Mexico. Hernandez, Raffaëlli, Jelsch, Rosas-Espinoza, Santiago-Pérez, and Nuñez, 2019, Herpetol. Bull., London, 147: 15–21, reported (as Ambystoma flavipiperatum) on range, habitat, and conservation. Everson, Gray, Jones, Lawrence, Foley, Sovacool, Kratovil, Hotaling, Hime, Storfer, Parra-Olea, Percino-Daniel, Aguilar-Miguel, O'Neill, Zambrano, Shaffer, and Weisrock, 2021, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 18 (17: e2014719118): 1–10, included this species in their study of molecular evolution and evolution of life histories in the Ambystoma tigrinum complex. Hernandez, Dufresnes, Raffaëlli, Jelsch, Dubey, Santiago-Pérez, Rosas-Espinoza, and Nuñez, 2022, Neotropical Biodiversity, 8: 35–44, noted a population of Ambystoma, Ambystoma cf. amblycephalum, from Nahuatzen, Michoacán state, Mexico, which is most similar to Ambystoma amblycephalum in terms of morphometrics, although mtDNA analyses placs this population as the sister of Ambystoma mexicanum or sister of a part of nominal Ambystoma velasci. Basically, the systematics of central Mexican Ambystoma is some difficulty, as these authors noted. See comments under Ambystoma regarding the state of central Mexican AmbystomaRaffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 147–148, provided an accounts (as Ambystoma flavipiperatum and Ambystoma amblycephalum), summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). The partition is not followed here pending molecular confirmation. 

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