Biology:Valentine's southern dusky salamander
| Valentine's southern dusky salamander | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Urodela |
| Family: | Plethodontidae |
| Subfamily: | Plethodontinae |
| Genus: | Desmognathus |
| Species: | D. valentinei
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| Binomial name | |
| Desmognathus valentinei Means, Lamb & Bernardo, 2017
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Valentine's southern dusky salamander (Desmognathus valentinei) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the southeastern United States .[2][3]
Taxonomy
It was previously thought to be a population of Holbrook's southern dusky salamander (D. holbrooki), with both species being grouped together as the southern dusky salamander. However, a 2008 study found D. holbrooki as previously defined to be polyphyletic and containing multiple undescribed species.[4] One of these undescribed species was formally described in 2017 as D. valentinei.[5] It is named in honor of Barry D. Valentine, a biologist and former faculty emeritus at Ohio State University, who had first suggested the distinctiveness of this taxon in the early 1960s.[6]
Distribution
It is found in the Gulf Coast region, where it ranges from the Mobile Bay region of Alabama west through the southern half of Mississippi to eastern Louisiana.[4]
Description
Despite its close resemblance to D. holbrooki, it has some morphological differences. It has a larger body structure than D. holbrooki and has nondescript dorsal markings instead of the crisply-defined blotches on other Desmognathus species. They also differ in aspects of the skull, and the tails of D. valentinei have a bladelike shape instead of narrowing to a tip.[6]
References
- ↑ IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2022). "Desmognathus valentinei". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T200107374A200107416. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-2.RLTS.T200107374A200107416.en. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/200107374/200107416. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ↑ "Desmognathus valentinei Means, Lamb, and Bernardo, 2017 | Amphibian Species of the World". https://amphibiansoftheworld.amnh.org/Amphibia/Caudata/Plethodontidae/Plethodontinae/Desmognathus/Desmognathus-valentinei.
- ↑ "AmphibiaWeb - Desmognathus valentinei". https://amphibiaweb.org/species/8617.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Beamer, David A.; Lamb, Trip (2008-04-01). "Dusky salamanders (Desmognathus, Plethodontidae) from the Coastal Plain: Multiple independent lineages and their bearing on the molecular phylogeny of the genus" (in en). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 47 (1): 143–153. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.01.015. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 18337126. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790308000298.
- ↑ Means, D. Bruce; Lamb, Jennifer Y.; Bernardo, Joseph (2017-05-10). "A new species of dusky salamander (Amphibia: Plethodontidae: Desmognathus) from the Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain of the United States and a redescription of D. auriculatus" (in en). Zootaxa 4263 (3): 467–506–467–506. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4263.3.3. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 28609856. https://mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4263.3.3.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Team that includes A&M biologist discovers new species of salamander" (in en-US). 2017-08-31. https://research.tamu.edu/2017/08/31/team-that-includes-am-biologist-discovers-new-species-of-salamander/.
Wikidata ☰ Q35214055 entry
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