Pachytriton brevipes (Sauvage, 1876)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Salamandridae > Subfamily: Pleurodelinae > Genus: Pachytriton > Species: Pachytriton brevipes

Cynops chinensis David, 1875, J. Trois. Voy. Explor. Emp. Chinoise, 2: 231–239. Syntypes: Originally 14 specimens in MNHNP, including MNHNP 5072 (4 specimens) according to Thireau, 1986, Cat. Types Urodeles Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., Rev. Crit.: 24 (who discussed problems with earlier type designations and noted that the specimens associated with MNHNP 5071 are not types), BMNH 1946.9.5.87 (formerly 1882.7.14.50, according to Brame and Gorham, 1972, Checklist Living & Fossil Salamand. World (Unpubl. MS): 64, and museum records), IRSNB 1001 (according to Lang, 1990, Doc. Trav., Inst. R. Sci. Nat. Belg., 59: 13). Type locality: "Kiansi méridional", China. Given as "S. Kiangsi" by Gee and Boring, 1929, Peking Nat. Hist. Bull., 4: 19; and as Tsitou, Kiangsi [= Jiangxi] Province, China, by Thireau, 1986, Cat. Types Urodeles Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., Rev. Crit.: 24. Primary homonym of Cynops chinensis Gray, 1859.

Triton brevipes Sauvage, 1876, L’Institut, Paris, N.S.,, 4: 274. Replacement name for Cynops chinensis David, 1875, according to Thireau, 1986, Cat. Types Urodeles Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., Rev. Crit.: 22.

Pachytriton brevipes — Boulenger, 1878, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 3: 72.

English Names

Tsitou Newt (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 35).

Black-spotted Stout Newt (Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 50).

Paddle-tailed Newt (Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 273). 

Tsitou Paddle-tailed Newt (Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 461).

Distribution

Mountains of southeastern China at elevations of 800 to 1700 m, including eastern Jiangxi, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: China, People's Republic of

Endemic: China, People's Republic of

Comment

See accounts by Ye, Fei, and Hu, 1993, Rare and Economic Amph. China 93; Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 50; and Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 337–340. See also discussion of problematic specimens by Scholz, 1998, Salamandra, 34: 375–380. Huang, 1990, Fauna Zhejiang, Amph. Rept.: 24–25, provided an account (as Pachytriton brevipes brevipes) for Zhejiang. Zhang and Wen, 2000, Amph. Guangxi: 23, provided an account for population in Guangxi, China. Fei, Hu, Ye, and Huang, 2006, Fauna Sinica, Amph. 1: 301–306, provided an account and range map. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Colored Atlas of Chinese Amph.: 94, provided a brief account including photographs of specimens. Wu, Wang, and Hanken, 2012, Asian Herpetol. Res., Ser. 2, 3: 83–102, allocated specimens of nominal Pachytriton inexpectatus from Anhui, Zhejiang, and northeastern Jiangxi to this species. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 101–102, provided an account, photographs, and a map (which excluded Anhui from the range). Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 168, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 273–275, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species. Wu and Murphy, 2015, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 92: 108–117, included this species in their Pachytriton brevipes complex and examined the systematics and potential range. Fei and Ye, 2016, Amph. China, 1: 327–329, provided an account, photograph, and range map. Li, 2011, Amph. Rept. Guangdong: 19, provided a brief account for Guangdong, China, and photograph. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 461–463, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). 

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