Amphiuma Garden, 1821

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Amphiumidae > Genus: Amphiuma
3 species

Amphiuma Garden in Smith, 1821, Select. Correspond. Linnaeus, 1: 333, 599. Type species: Amphiuma means Garden, 1821, by monotypy.

Chrysodonta Mitchill, 1822, Am. Med. Recorder, 5: 503. Type species: Chrysodonta larvaeformis Mitchill, 1822 (= Amphiuma means Garden, 1821), by monotypy. Synonymy by Cuvier, 1827, Mem. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, 14: 2; Harlan, 1827, J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 5: 317; Wagler, 1830, Nat. Syst. Amph.: 209; Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 97; Gray, 1850, Cat. Spec. Amph. Coll. Brit. Mus., Batr. Grad.: 55; Duméril, Bibron, and Duméril, 1854, Erp. Gen., 9: 201.

Sirenoidis Fitzinger, 1843, Syst. Rept.: 34. Type species: Amphiuma didactylum Cuvier, 1827 (= Amphiuma means Garden, 1821), by monotypy. Synonymy by Gray, 1850, Cat. Spec. Amph. Coll. Brit. Mus., Batr. Grad.: 54; Ryder, 1879, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1879: 14-15.

Muraenopsis Fitzinger, 1843, Syst. Rept.: 34. Type species: Amphiuma tridactylum Cuvier, 1827, by monotypy. Synonymy by Ryder, 1879, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1879: 14-15.

MyraenopsisAgassiz, 1846, Nomencl. Zool., Fasc. 12: 245. Unjustified emendation of Muraenopsis Fitzinger, 1843.

English Names

Amphiumas (Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 174; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 4; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 27; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 14; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 5; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 24; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 23).

Two-toad Congo Snakes (Jordan, 1878, Man. Vert. North. U.S., Ed. 2: 197).

Distribution

Southeastern USA.

Comment

See detailed accounts of the genus and species by Salthe, 1973, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 147: 1–4, and Petranka, 1998, Salamand. U.S. Canada: 131–138. Bonett, Chippindale, Moler, Van Devender, and Wake, 2009, PLoS One, 5: e5615 (1–10), reported on phylogenetics of the genus, including related fossil taxa in the family, and discussed the evolution of large body size.  Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543–583, suggested a phylogenetic tree of the three species. Altig and McDiarmid, 2015, Handb. Larval Amph. US and Canada: 98–99, provided an account of larval morphology. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 497–501, provided species accounts, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).

Contained taxa (3 sp.):

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