Taricha sierrae (Twitty, 1942)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Salamandridae > Subfamily: Pleurodelinae > Genus: Taricha > Species: Taricha sierrae

Triturus sierrae Twitty, 1942, Copeia, 1942: 65. Holotype: CAS-SU 2425, by original designation. Type locality: "Cherokee Creek, in the hills above Chico, Butte County, California", USA.

Triturus torosus sierraeStebbins, 1951, Amph. W. North Am.: 28.

Taricha sierraeWahlert, 1952, Copeia, 1952: 30.

Taricha torosa sierraeSchmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 26.

Taricha sierraeCollins, 1991, Herpetol. Rev., 22: 43. Kuchta, 2007, Herpetologica, 63: 332.

Taricha (Taricha) sierraeDubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 67.

Common Names

Sierra Newt (Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 93; Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 26; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 175; Stebbins, 1966, Field Guide W. North Am. Rept. Amph.: 39; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 9; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 36; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 10; Stebbins, 2003, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 3: 167; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 16; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 31; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 34).

Distribution

Sierra Nevada of California north of the Main Fork of the Kaweah River, Tulare County, California, USA.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: United States of America, United States of America - California

Endemic: United States of America, United States of America - California

Comment

Kuchta, 2007, Herpetologica, 63: 332–350, most recently recognized Taricha sierrae as a species and discussed the evidence that lead to this conclusion and the hybrid zone with Taricha torosa. See Taricha torosa rcord for relevant literature. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 177, provided a brief account, photographs, and range map. Altig and McDiarmid, 2015, Handb. Larval Amph. US and Canada: 137–138, provided an account of larval morphology and biology. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 336–337, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).  

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