Neurergus derjugini (Nesterov, 1916)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Salamandridae > Subfamily: Pleurodelinae > Genus: Neurergus > Species: Neurergus derjugini

Rhithrotriton derjugini Nesterov, 1916, Annu. Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci. Petrograd, 21: 1. Syntypes: ZISP, according to Brame and Gorham, 1972, Checklist Living & Fossil Salamand. World (Unpubl. MS): 54, but including animal figured in original publication; BMNH collection records note BMNH 1946.9.5.90–92 (formerly 1917.5.3.8–10) as syntypes, presumably on exchange from ZISP. . Type locality: "montibus Surkeu" (= Surkev Mountains, Kurdistan), Iran. 

Rhithrotriton derjugini var. microspilotus Nesterov, 1916, Annu. Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci. Petrograd, 21: 2, 5. Type(s): Including animal figured in the original publication; possibly ZISP, but not seen by Nikolskii, 1918, Fauna Rossii, Zemnovodnye: 198. Type locality: "montibus Auromana" (= Avroman-Dagh), Balch, Iraq, and Tawale, Province Kurdistan, Iran.

Triton crocatus forma microspilota — Wolterstorff, 1926, Zool. Anz., 67: 2.

Triton crocatus forma derjugini — Wolterstorff, 1926, Zool. Anz., 67: 1–6. 

Triton crocatus microspilotus — Bolkay, 1927, Glasn. Zemaljskog Muz. Bosni Hercegov., 39: 67.

Neurergus derjugini — Terentjev, 1930, Trudy Leningrad. Obshchestvo Estestvoispytateleĭ, 40: 59.

Neurergus crocatus microspilotus — Schmidt, 1939, Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Publ., Zool. Ser., 24: 52.

Triturus crocatus derjugini — Bodenheimer, 1944, Istanbul Univ. Fen. Fak. Mec., Seri B, 9: 7.

Triturus crocatus microspilotus — Bodenheimer, 1944, Istanbul Univ. Fen. Fak. Mec., Seri B, 9: 7.

Neurergus microspilotus — Schmidtler and Schmidtler, 1975, Salamandra, 11: 93.

Neurergus (Neurergus) microspilotus — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 66.

Neurergus derjugini derjugini — Schneider and Schneider, 2011, Herpetozoa, Wien, 23: 3.

Neurergus derjugini microspilotus — Schneider and Schneider, 2011, Herpetozoa, Wien, 23: 3.

Neurergus (Neurergus) derjugugini derjugini — Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 396.

Neurergus (Neurergus) derjugugini microspilotus — Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 397.

Common Names

Kurdistan Newt (Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 32; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 35).

Kordestan Newt (Baloutch and Kami, 1995, Amph. Iran: 98).

Derjugin's (Kordestan) Mountain Newt (Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, Fahimi, Broomand, Yazdanian, Najafi-Majd, Hosseinian Yousefkani, Rezazadeh, Hosseinzadeh, Nasrabadi, Mashayekhi, Motesharei, Naderi, and Kazemi, 2015, Asian Herpetol. Res., 6: 267). 

Derjugin's Mountain Newst (Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, and Niamir, 2023, Zootaxa, 5279: 39).

Yellow-spotted Mountain Newt (Salehi, Akmali, and Sharifi, 2019, Herpetol. J., 29: 37). 

Kurdistan Newt (Neurergus derjugugini derjugini: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 396)

Avroman Dagh Newt (Neurergus derjugugini microspilotus: Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 397). 

Small-spotted Mountain Newt (Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, and Niamir, 2023, Zootaxa, 5279: 40).

Distribution

Montane western Kurdistan, West Azarbaijan, and northwestern Kermanshah provinces, Iran, 1300–1400 m elevation; adjacent northeastern Iraq.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Iran, Iraq

Comment

Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 346–347, and Baloutch and Kami, 1995, Amph. Iran: 98–100, provided accounts. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 140–141, provided a brief account, photo, and map.  Sharifi, Rastegar-Pouyani, Akmali, and Narenji, 2008, Russ. J. Herpetol., 15: 169–172, discussed geographic variation of morphology. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 604. Özdemir, Üzüm, Avcı, and Olgun, 2009, Herpetologica, 65: 280–291, suggested that Neurergus kaiseri is the sister taxon of Neurergus microspilotus. Schneider and Schneider, 2011, Herpetozoa, Wien, 23: 3–20, discussed the taxonomy of this species, transferred Rhithrotriton derjugini from the synonymy of Neurergus crocatus (where it had been placed by Nikolskii, 1918, Fauna Rossii, Zemnovodnye: 197, and Wolterstorff, 1926, Zool. Anz., 67: 1–6) and recognized two nominal subspecies. Schneider and Schneider, 2013, Herpetozoa, Wien, 26: 27–38, reported on geographic variation, provided new localities, and confirmed the synonymy of Neurergus microspilotus. Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, Fahimi, Broomand, Yazdanian, Najafi-Majd, Hosseinian Yousefkani, Rezazadeh, Hosseinzadeh, Nasrabadi, Mashayekhi, Motesharei, Naderi, and Kazemi, 2015, Asian Herpetol. Res., 6: 257–290, reported on distribution and conservation status in Iran. Bozorgi, Kiabi, Kami, Ahmadzadeh, Mohammadi, and Alizadeh, 2015, Russ. J. Herpetol., 22: 103–106, discussed the range of Neurergus derjugini derjugini in Kordestan Province, Iran. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 258–260, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species. Barabanov and Litvinchuk, 2015, Russ. J. Herpetol., 22: 107–115, provided a new record in Iran, mapped the range, and discussed the potential range. Rancilhac, Goudarzi, Gehara, Hemami, Elmer, Vences, and Steinfartz, 2019, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 133: 189–197, discussed molecular phylogenetics within Neurergus and suggested that this species may contain unnamed lineages. Salehi, Akmali, and Sharifi, 2019, Herpetol. J., 29: 37–47, reported on the mtDNA landscape genetics of the species in Iran and Irag. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 149, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology (including a description of the cause of its imminent extinction), a range map, as well as a photograph. Afroosheh, Rödder, Mikulíček, Akmali, Vaissi, Fleck, Schneider, and Sharifi, 2019, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 57: 580–590, also found two geographically constrained mtDNA lineages. Malekoutian, Sharifi, and Vaissi, 2020, Ecol. Evol., 10: 2661–2676, reported on mtDNA phylogeography and Pleistocene refugia in the mid-Zagros Range in Iran and Iraq. Karimi, Ghaffari, and Kaboodvandpour, 2021, Salamandra, 57: 541–546, discussed habitat requirements in western Iran. Heydari, Hosseinian Yousefkhani, and Faizi, 2021, J. Wildl. Biodivers., Arak, 5: 54–67, discussed habitat, population density, and mapped known localities in Iran. Mawlodi, Rastegar-Pouyani, Rastegar-Pouyani, and Rostami, 2022, Russ. J. Herpetol., 29: 191–198l provided new localities (Mariwan and Banch counties) for Kurdistan Province, Iran, provided a range map, and discussed the taxonomic status of this species. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 396–399, provided subspecies accounts, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, and Niamir, 2023, Zootaxa, 5279: 1–112, provided for Iran an identification key including this species, photographs, habitat and conservation threats, a review of the literature, discussion of nomenclature and systematics, as well as dot and modeled distribution maps. Hosseinian Yousefkani, Shafiei Bafti, Rezazadeh Mashizi, and Moeinadini, 2024, North-West. J. Zool., Romania, 20(e242501): 85–89, discussed the possible effects of climate change on the range in Iran and provided a current dot map for that country.  

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