Plethodon albagula Grobman, 1944

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

Plethodon glutinosus albagula Grobman, 1944, Ann. New York Acad. Sci., 45: 283. Holotype: CM 9652, by original designation. Type locality: "20 miles north of San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas", USA.

Plethodon albagula —Highton In Highton, Maha, and Maxson, 1989, Illinois Biol. Monogr., 57: 71.

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

Common Names

White-throated Slimy Salamander (Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 34; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 175; Conant, 1975, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. Cent. N. Am., Ed. 2: 277).

Whitethroat Slimy Salamander (Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 8).

Western Slimy Salamander (Highton in Highton, Maha, and Maxson, 1989, Illinois Biol. Monogr., 57: 71; 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: 25; 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: 13; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 29; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 30).

Distribution

Two major centers of population: central and southern Missouri, highlands of northern and western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma; escarpment region of south-central Texas, USA.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: United States of America, United States of America - Arkansas, United States of America - Missouri, United States of America - Oklahoma, United States of America - Texas

Endemic: United States of America

Comment

In the Plethodon glutinosus group of Highton and Larson, 1979, Syst. Zool., 28: 579–599. Frost and Hillis, 1990, Herpetologica, 46: 87–104, suggested that this binominal actually represents more than one species. This suggestion was further supported by data in Carr, 1996, Herpetologica, 52: 56–65. Petranka, 1998, Salamand. U.S. Canada: 355, rejected the distinction from Plethodon glutinosus on the basis of overall similarity. Anthony, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 788–789, provided a detailed account that summarized the biology and conservation literature. Baird, Krejca, Reddell, Peden, Mahoney, and Hillis, 2006, Copeia, 2006: 760–768, reported on phylogeographic structure and noted that several species may be covered under this single name, with the Ozark Plateau population being particularly divergent from Texas populations. Davis and Pauly, 2011, Copeia, 2011: 103–112, reported on morphological variation among populations on the Edward Plateau of central Texas and also suggested that nominal Plethodon albagula is composed of several species, which fits with the evidence provided by Kozak, Weisrock, and Larson, 2006, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B, Biol. Sci., 273: 539–546. Wiens, Engstrom, and Chippindale, 2006, Evolution, 60: 2585–2603, suggested the possibility that Plethodon albagula and Plethodon sequoyah are conspecific; Highton, Hastings, Palmer, Watts, Hass, Culver, and Arnold, 2012, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 63: 278–290, discussed the evidence for this and rejected the hypothesis. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 400, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 920–921, provided an account summarizing systematics, morphology, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).  

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