Ambystoma rosaceum Taylor, 1941

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

Axolotes maculata Owen, 1844, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 1, 14: 23, Holotype: Not stated. BMNH 1841.6.13.35 according to Brame and Gorham, 1972, Checklist Living & Fossil Salamand. World (Unpubl. MS): 139, although museum records have it as BMNH I.III.13.29. Type locality: "In Mexico, in fluviis Sierrae Madre, Chihuahua, lat. 26° 6′ N., longitude 106° 50′ W." Synonymy by Bishop, 1945, Herpetologica, 3: 24. Formerly placed in the synonymy of Ambystoma velasci by Dunn, 1940, Copeia, 1940: 157. Secondary homonym of Lacerta maculata Shaw, 1802 (= Ambystoma maculatum).

Ambystoma rosaceum Taylor, 1941, Copeia, 1941: 143. Holotype: EHT-HMS 23054, by original designation; now FMNH 100079 according to Marx, 1976, Fieldiana, Zool., 69: 36. Type locality: "Mojárachic, Chihuahua, Mexico".

Ambystoma fluvinatum Taylor, 1941, Copeia, 1941: 144. Holotype: EHT-HMS 25383, by original designation; now FMNH 100108 according to Marx, 1976, Fieldiana, Zool., 69: 35. Type locality: "Mojárachic, Chihuahua, Mexico". Synonymy by Smith and Taylor, 1948, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 194: 13.

Ambystoma rosaceum nigrum Shannon, 1951, Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., 101: 466. Holotype: USNM, 123581, by original designation. Type locality: "El Salto, Durango", Mexico. Distinctiveness rejected by Anderson, 1961, Copeia, 1961: 371–377.

Ambystoma rosaceum rosaceum — Shannon, 1951, Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., 101: 466.

Ambystoma rosaceum sonoriensis Shannon, 1951, Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., 101: 468. Holotype: USNM 17253, by original designation. Type locality: "Sonora, Mexico, 32 miles south of the Arizona border", Mexico. Corrected to "Pinetos Camp, Sonora, Mexico", by Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 7. Distinctiveness of subspecies rejected by Anderson, 1961, Copeia, 1961: 371–377. Incorrect gender of subspecies name; should be sonoriense (DRF). Tighe, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 654: 12, summarized the distribution of paratypes. 

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

Ambystoma (Ambystoma) rosaceum — Tihen, 1958, Bull. Florida State Mus., Biol. Sci., 3: 3, 36.

Ambystoma rosaceum sonoraensis — Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 7. Incorrect subsequent spelling/gender of subspecies name.

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

Ambystoma (Heterotriton) nigrum — Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 103, provided a brief account, photo, and map.

Common Names

Tarahumara Salamander (Ambystoma rosaceum: Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 19; 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: 28).

Durango Tarahumara Salamander (Ambystoma rosaceum nigrum: Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 9; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 28).

Common Tarahumara Salamander (Ambystoma rosaceum rosaceum: Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 9; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 28).

El Salto Salamander (Ambystoma nigrum: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 161).

Distribution

High elevations in the Sierra Madre Occidental from the region of Aguascalientes and western Zacatecas north through montane Nayarit, Durango and montane Sinaloa to northern Chihuahua (vicinity of Casas Grandes) and northern Sonora (Sierra Pinitos, Sierra de los Ajos, Sierra El Tigre, and Sierra San Luis in the north), Mexico.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Mexico

Endemic: Mexico

Comment

Subspecies rejected by Anderson, 1961, Copeia, 1961: 371–377. Reviewed by Anderson, 1978, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 206: 1–2. Shaffer, 1983, Copeia, 1983: 67, noted that the species may be composed of two allopatric populations, which Shaffer and McKnight, 1996, Evolution, 50: 417–433, suggested are distinct species (which they did not formally identify with names) of which the southern (Durango/Zacatecas) population would be Ambystoma nigrum and the northern (Sonora/Chihuahua) Ambystoma rosaceum (DRF). Highton, 2000, in Bruce et al., Biol. Plethodontid Salamanders: 219, noted that the data provided by Shaffer and McKnight suggested that three species were covered by this name. Enderson, Quijada-Mascareñas, Turner, Rosen, and Bezy, 2009, Check List, 5: 632–672, reported the species in Sinaloa, Mexico. Lemos-Espinal, 2007, Anf. Rept. Chihuahua Mexico: 22–23, provided an account for Chihuahua, Mexico. Valdes-Lares, Martín-Muñoz de Cote, and Muñiz-Martínez, 2013, Herpetol. Rev., 44: 646, provided new records for Durango, Mexico. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 103, provided a brief account, photo, and map. This author also recognized the southern nominal subspecies, nigrum, as a species. Given that the Sierra Madre Occidental is broken into high-elevation blocks by low passes (such as that provided by the Arroyo Mezquital) it is completely possible that Ambystoma rosaceum sensu lato is a species complex but evidence that these nominal races are anything other than ends of geographic variation has not been presented (DRF). Rorabaugh and Lemos-Espinal, 2016, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Sonora: 111–114, provided a detailed account of natural history, morphology, distribution, and conservation status in Sonora, Mexico. Carbajal-Márquez, Quintero-Díaz, and Chávez-Floriano, 2015, Check List, 11 (Art. 1597): 1–4, provided a record for Aguascalientes and discussed the range. Luja-Molina and Grünwald, 2015, Herpetol. Rev., 46: 223, provide for Municipality of Del Nayar, Nayarit, Mexico. Lemos-Espinal, Smith, and Valdes-Lares, 2019, Amph. Rept. Durango: 85–86, provided a brief account for Durango, Mexico. 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.. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 161–162, provided accounts (as Ambystoma rosaceum and Ambystoma nigrum), summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map); these taxa not her recognized pending molecular confirmation. Tighe, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 654: 9, discussed the current location of paratypes. Loc-Barragán, Smith, Woolrich-Piña, and Lemos-Espinal, 2024, Herpetozoa, Wien, 37: 31, reported on the distributional and conservation status in the state of Nayarit, Mexico.  

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