Pleurodeles nebulosus (Guichenot, 1850)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Salamandridae > Subfamily: Pleurodelinae > Genus: Pleurodeles > Species: Pleurodeles nebulosus

Triton nebulosus Guichenot, 1850, Explor. Scient. Algerie, 5: 29. Type(s): Not stated; MNHNP 1442 considered a syntype by Thireau, 1986, Cat. Types Urodeles Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., Rev. Crit.: 49, who noted two other specimens, MNHNP CD 8 and CD 21, which might be types. Carranza and Wade, 2004, Zootaxa, 488: 14, briefly discussed the syntypes and designated MNHNP 1442 as lectotype. Type locality: Algiers, Algeria.

Pleurodeles nebulosus — Carranza and Wade, 2004, Zootaxa, 488: 1.

Common Names

Algerian Ribbed Newt (Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 304). 

Algerian Newt (Escoriza and Ben Hassine, 2019, Amph. N. Afr.: 75). 

Distribution

Maghreb of Algeria and northern Tunisia, North Africa, excluding the Edough Peninsula of Algeria.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Algeria, Tunisia

Comment

Carranza and Arnold, 2004, Syst. Biodiversity, 1: 327-337, suggested that Pleurodeles poireti (in the old sense of predominantly being composed of Pleurodeles nebulosus) is composed of three genetically mildly distinctive geographical groups: 1) coastal Tunisia; 2) central northern Algeria; and 3) Constantine, Algeria east to northwest-central Tunisia. Removed from the synonymy of Pleurodeles poireti by Carranza and Wade, 2004, Zootaxa, 488: 1, where it had been placed by Gray, 1850, Cat. Spec. Amph. Coll. Brit. Mus., Batr. Grad.: 19; Duméril, Bibron, and Duméril, 1854, Erp. Gen., 9: 160; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Grad. Batr. Apoda Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 25. Carranza and Wade, 2004, Zootaxa, 488: 1-24, revised the taxonomy of the Algerian and Tunisian Pleurodeles. Prior to this work this species was confounded with Pleurodeles poireti, so accounts (as Pleurodeles poireti) by Salvador, 1996, Smithson. Herpetol. Inform. Serv., 109: 4-5, and Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 217-220, actually mostly apply to this species. 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: 606. Amor, Kalboussi, and Said, 2013, Basic & Appl. Herpetol., 27: 85–100, discussed the rangein Tunisia and its conservation status. Mateo, Géniez, and Pether, 2013, Basic & Appl. Herpetol., 27: 51–83, commented on the range and population status in Algeria. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 179–180, provided a brief account, photographs, and range map. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 304–305, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species. Escoriza and Ben Hassine, 2017, Zootaxa, 4237: 587–592, compared the larval morphology of Pleurodeles nebulosus, Pleurodeles waltl, and Pleurodeles poireti. See detailed account by Escoriza and Ben Hassine, 2019, Amph. N. Afr.: 75–86. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 36–37, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 11567, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map, as well as a photograph. Bouam and Merzougui, 2021, Herpetol. Notes, 14: 927–931, provided a record from Djebel Tafertast, municipality of Medjana, province of Bordj Bou Arreridj, northern Algeria, 1657 m elevation, and discussed and provided a dot map of the range in Algeria. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 269–270, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). Nouira, Blanc, Crochet, Frétey, Géniez, Ineich, De Massary, Ohler, Tlili, and Lescure, 2022, Bull. Soc. Herpetol. France, 180: 12, discussed the species in Tunisia.  

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