Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
Single word	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Pseudoeurycea leprosa (Cope, 1869)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Plethodontidae > Subfamily: Hemidactyliinae > Genus: Pseudoeurycea > Species: Pseudoeurycea leprosa

Spelerpes leprosus Cope, 1869, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 21: 105. Syntypes: USNM 19255, 103591-92, and 6340 (2 specimens) according to Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 26, although Dunn, 1926, Salamanders Fam. Plethodontidae: 384, noted only four syntypes under USNM 63340; USNM 19255 designated lectotype by Taylor, 1939 "1938", Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 25: 274. See Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 26, for status of former syntypes. Type locality: "Orizava" (= Orizaba), Veracruz, Mexico.

Spelerpes laticeps Brocchi, 1883, Miss. Scient. Mex. Amer. Centr., Rech. Zool., 3(2, livr. 3): 110, pl. 18, fig. 1. Syntypes: MNHNP 4750 (4 specimens) (= Pseudoeurycea leprosa—D.B. Wake IN Thireau, 1986, Cat. Types Urodeles Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., Rev. Crit.: 36) and MNHNP A.843 (= Chiropterotriton chiropterus—D.B. Wake IN Thireau, 1986, Cat. Types Urodeles Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., Rev. Crit.: 36) Type locality: "Vera Cruz", Mexico; restricted to Cruz Blanca, Veracruz, Mexico, by Smith and Taylor, 1950, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 33: 347. See discussion by Thireau, 1986, Cat. Types Urodeles Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., Rev. Crit.: 35-36.

Geotriton leprosus — Garman, 1884, Bull. Essex Inst., 16: 39.

Geotriton laticeps — Garman, 1884, Bull. Essex Inst., 16: 4O.

Spelerpes orizabensis Blatchley, 1893, Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., 16: 38. Syntypes: USNM 19266-67 according to Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 26. Type locality: "on the southwestern slope of the montain . . . . at a height of 11,000 feet on the slope of Mount Orizaba", Veracruz, Mexico. Synonymy by Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 26. Lara-Góngora, 2003, Bull. Maryland Herpetol. Soc., 39: 39-40, suggested that this synonymy should be reinvestigated.

Spelerpes gibbicaudus Blatchley, 1893, Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., 16: 38. Holotype: USNM 19255 (one of the syntypes and the designated lectotype for Spelerpes leprosus Cope, 1869) according to Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 25. Type locality: "at Orizaba, [Veracruz,] Mexico". Synonymy by Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 25.

Oedipus leprosus — Dunn, 1918, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 62: 470.

Eurycea leprosus — Noble, 1921, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 44: 3.

Oedipus orizabensis — Taylor, 1939 "1938", Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 25: 280.

Oedipus leprosus — Taylor, 1939 "1938", Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 25: 280.

Bolitoglossa leprosa — Taylor, 1941, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 27: 143.

Pseudoeurycea leprosa — Taylor, 1944, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 30: 209.

Pseudoeurycea (Pseudoeurycea) leprosa — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77-161.

English Names

Leprous False Brook Salamander (Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 14; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 33; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 33).

Distribution

High mountains in the states of Puebla, Veracruz, Morelos, Distrito Federal, northeastern Michoacán, and México, 2500 to 3600 m elevation, Mexico.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Mexico

Endemic: Mexico

Comment

Removed from the synonymy of Pseudoeurycea cephalica by Taylor, 1939 "1938", Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 25: 259-313 (and Taylor, 1941, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 27: 143), where it had been placed by Dunn, 1924, Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Publ., Zool. Ser., 12: 99. Highton, 2000, in Bruce et al., Biol. Plethodontid Salamanders: 224, suggested on the basis of allozyme evidence that four species masquerade under this name. Uribe-Peña, Ramírez-Bautista, and Casas-Andreu, 1999, Cuad. Inst. Biol., UNAM, 32: 26-27, provided an account and noted the Guerrero and Oaxaca records, although this require confirmation and subsequent authors have not mentioned them, so assumed to now be assigned to other species (DRF). In the Pseudoeurycea leprosa group of Wake and Lynch, 1976, Sci. Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 25: 61, and Lara-Góngora, 2003, Bull. Maryland Herpetol. Soc., 39: 21-52. Parra-Olea, Windfield, Velo-Antón, and Zamudio, 2012, J. Biogeograph., 39: 353-370, reported on cytochrome b phylogeography. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 266–267, provided a brief account, photograph, and map. Velo-Antón, Parra, Parra-Olea, and Zamudio, 2013, Mol. Ecol., 22: 3261–3278, reported on landscape genetics and potential range modeling in the Trans-volcanic Belt. See account by Cázares-Hernández, Molohua Tzitzihua, Méndez Quiahua, Quiahua Colotl, Temoxtle Marquez, Rodriguez Merino, and Apale Pacheco, 2018, Tlaconetes: 1–92, for photos, habitat, life history, and conservation status. Lemos-Espinal and Dixon, 2016, Amph. Rept. Hidalgo: 340–341, provided a brief account and map for Hidalgo, Mexico. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 596–598, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). See brief discussion by Tighe, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 654: 58, regarding the types of Spelerpes leprosus and Spelerpes gibbicaudus. Aguilar-López and García-Bañuelos, 2023, Rev. Latinoam. Herpetol., 6: 82–85, provided new records from eastern Puebla and a dot map of the distribution, excluding the Oaxaca and Guerrero records.

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For additional information see AmphibiaWeb report
For information on conservation status and distribution see the IUCN Redlist
For information on distribution, habitat, and conservation see the Map of Life
For related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist
For access to available specimen data for this species, from over 350 scientific collections, go to Vertnet.