Valentine's southern dusky salamander

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(Redirected from Desmognathus valentinei)

Valentine's southern dusky salamander

Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)^[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Urodela
Family:	Plethodontidae
Subfamily:	Plethodontinae
Genus:	Desmognathus
Species:	D. valentinei
Binomial name
*Desmognathus valentinei* Means, Lamb & Bernardo, 2017

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. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
^ "Desmognathus valentinei Means, Lamb, and Bernardo, 2017 | Amphibian Species of the World". amphibiansoftheworld.amnh.org. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
^ "AmphibiaWeb - Desmognathus valentinei". amphibiaweb.org. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
^ ^a ^b 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". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 47 (1): 143–153. Bibcode:2008MolPE..47..143B. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.01.015. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 18337126.
^ 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". Zootaxa. 4263 (3): 467–506–467–506. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4263.3.3. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 28609856. S2CID 33461333.
^ ^a ^b "Team that includes A&M biologist discovers new species of salamander". Research @ Texas A&M | Inform, Inspire, Amaze. 2017-08-31. Retrieved 2021-12-22.

Taxon identifiers
Desmognathus valentinei	Wikidata: Q35214055 Wikispecies: Desmognathus valentinei AmphibiaWeb: 8617 ASW: Desmognathus-valentinei CoL: 353N4 GBIF: 10864349 ITIS: 1104439 IUCN: 200107374 NCBI: 2005549

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