Plethodon teyahalee Hairston, 1950

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

Plethodon jordani teyahalee Hairston, 1950, Copeia, 1950: 269. Holotype: UMMZ 100807, by original designation. Type locality: "from an elevation of 4525 ft. on Teyahalee Bald (= Johanna Bald) in the Snowbird Mountains on the boundary between Graham and Cherokee counties, North Carolina", USA. See comment.

Plethodon teyahaleeHighton, 1984 "1983", Brimleyana, 9: 1-20.

Plethodon oconaluftee Hairston, 1993, Brimleyana, 18: 67. Holotype: GSMNP 33339, by original designation. Type locality: "Pisgah National Forest, beside Forest Service Road 140 near the North Fork of the French Broad River at an elevation of 930 m on the south-facing slope of the Balsam Mountains, Translyvania County, North Carolina", USA. See comment.

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

Common Names

Teyahalee Salamander (Plethodon teyahalee: Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 37; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 175).

Southern Appalachian Slimy Salamander (Plethodon teyahalee: Highton In Highton, Maha, and Maxson, 1989, Illinois Biol. Monogr., 57: 54).

Southern Appalachian Salamander (Plethodon teyahalee: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 33; 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: 28; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 21; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 14; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 30; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 32).

Balsam Mountains Salamander (Plethodon oconaluftee: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 33)

Distribution

West of the French Broad River in the Blue Ridge physiographic province of southwestern North Carolina and in adjacent Tennessee; also Rabun County, Georgia; Ocenee, Pickens, Anderson, and Abbeville counties, South Carolina, USA.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: United States of America, United States of America - Georgia, United States of America - North Carolina, United States of America - South Carolina, United States of America - Tennessee

Endemic: United States of America

Comment

Recognized (as Plethodon teyahalee) by Highton, 1984 "1983", Brimleyana, 9: 1–20, and Highton, 1987, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 401: 1-2. Hairston, 1993, Brimleyana, 18: 65–69, subsequently noted that the types of the nominal taxon Plethodon teyahalee were from a zone between an allopatric and diagnosable taxon of the Plethodon jordani complex and a lower elevation member of the Plethodon glutinosus complex that Highton intended to recognize. The relevant Plethodon jordani complex population is now considered to be extinct through genetic swamping. Although Hairston is correct that the types are from a hybrid zone, they are not hybrids as defined in the Glossary of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1985), and the older name Plethodon teyahalee is therefore available for the species the population the type most resembles; see nomenclatural discussion by Highton, Tilley, and Wake In Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 28. Beamer and Lannoo, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 844–846, provided a detailed account that summarized the biology and conservation literature. Wiens, Engstrom, and Chippindale, 2006, Evolution, 60: 2585–2603, recognized both Plethodon oconaluftae and Plethodon teyahalee on the basis of their tree; Highton, Hastings, Palmer, Watts, Hass, Culver, and Arnold, 2012, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 63: 278–290, noted that these are different names for the same species extending from an issue of nomenclature, not biology. Petranka, 1998, Salamand. U.S. Canada: 383–386, provided an account as Plethodon oconaluftee.  Moskwik, 2014, J. Biogeograph., 41: 1957–1966, documented in this species significant elevational range changes since the 1940s. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 397, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 915, provided an account summarizing systematics, morphology, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). See comment under Plethodon chattahoochee.   

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