"Hynobius" turkestanicus Nikolskii, 1910

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Hynobiidae > Subfamily: Hynobiinae > Species: "Hynobius" turkestanicus

Hynobius turkestanicus Nikolskii, 1910 "1909", Trav. Soc. Nat. Univ. Imp. Kharkow, 43: 73. Holotype: ZISP 2404 (according to Terentjev, 1938, Copeia, 1938: 17), now lost according to Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 100–103; larva under ZISP 2404 regarded as lectotype by Andrushko, 1973, in Darevsky (ed.), Problems of Herpetol.: 13–15, although this is a salamandrid and does not represent the taxon originally described according to Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 100–103. Types considered lost by Dunayev and Orlova, 1994, Russ. J. Herpetol., 1: 65, and Kuzmin, Lebedkina, and Borkin, 1995, Zool. Zh., 74: 105. Type locality: Between Samarkand and Pamirs Massif, southern Central Asia, Turkmenistan; corrected to "in all probability Uzbekistan and Tajikistan" by Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 100–103. Type locality region and collector's itinerary discussed by Kuzmin and Dunayev, 2000, Adv. Amph. Res. Former Soviet Union, 5: 243–250, and with more detail by Borkin and Litvinchuk, 2011, Curr. Stud. Herpetol., Saratov, 11: 103–120, who suggested the type locality to be in the Pamir Range, along the Alaisk Crest, in southern Kyrgystan, close to the border of Tajikistan. 

Hynobius turcestanicus — Terentjev, 1938, Copeia, 1938: 17. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Hynobius turkestanicus — Andrushko, 1974, Vestn. Leningrad Univ., Biol., 1974: 157; Kuzmin, Lebedkina, and Borkin, 1995, Zool. Zh., 74: 105.

Turanomolge turkestanicus — Borkin and Darevsky, 1987, Amf. Rept. Zapovednyckh Territorii: 130; Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 22.

"Hynobius" turkestanicus — Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 48, exclusion from Hynobius but placement incertae sedis within Ranodontini. 

Common Names

Turkestan Salamander (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 28).

Turkestanian Salamander (Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 100).

Distribution

Known only from the lost holotype from 'Between Samarkand and Pamirs', likely in Kyrgyzstan.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Kyrgyzstan

Endemic: Kyrgyzstan

Comment

Terentjev and Chernov, 1949, Opredelitel' presmykayushchikhsya i zemnovodnykh: 47, and Thorn, 1968, Salamand. Eur. Asie Afr. Nord: 75, considered this a synonym of Hynobius keyserlingii (= Salamandrella keyserlingii of this list). Andrushko, 1974, Vestn. Leningrad Univ., Biol., 1974: 157–160, and Kuzmin, Lebedkina, and Borkin, 1995, Zool. Zh., 74: 105, regarded it as a distinct species. See accounts and discussion by Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 100–103, Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 94–95, Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 75, and Kuzmin, 2013, Amph. Former Soviet Union, Ed. 2: 37–40, . Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 96–97, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species. Borzée and Min, 2021, Animals, 11 (187): 21, doubted that this taxon is a member of Hynobius.  Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 38, provided a detailed account of this questionable taxon, including a review of what little is known and what has been conjectured about it and its collection locality, transferring the nominal species out of Hynobius and into incertae sedis as "Hynobius" within Ranodontini of Hynobiinae. Borkin and Litvinchuk, 2011, Curr. Stud. Herpetol., Saratov, 11: 103–120, discussed the literature of this enigmatic taxon as well as the itinerary of the original collector, suggesting the type locality to be in the Pamir Range, along the Alaisk Crest, in southern Kyrgystan, close to the border of Tajikistan. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 48, detailed the literature of this nominal species. 

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