Plethodon punctatus Highton 1972

Felix, Zachary I., Wooten, Jessica A., Pierson, Todd W. & Camp, Carlos D., 2019, Re-evaluation of the Wehrle’s salamander (Plethodon wehrlei Fowler and Dunn) species group (Caudata: Plethodontidae) using genomic data, with the description of a new species, Zootaxa 4609 (3), pp. 429-448 : 438-439

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4609.3.2
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FD86F28B-E6DD-49BF-AA52-7D224FDF3B9D
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/F93FC243-FFD9-9D2B-4BD3-F905FABBFF7D
treatment provided by	Plazi (2019-05-24 06:43:14, last updated 2024-11-27 11:13:42)
scientific name	Plethodon punctatus Highton 1972
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Plethodon punctatus Highton 1972 View in CoL

English name: Cow Knob salamander, Crother et al. 2017; white-spotted salamander, Highton 1988, Petranka 1998

Holotype: United States National Museum of Natural History ( USNM) 190224

Type Locality: Cow Knob, Pendleton County, West Virginia.

Remarks: Plethodon punctatus has long been regarded as a distinct species because it is morphologically distinguishable from P. wehrlei , although their close relationship has been recognized. Our analyses corroborate Kuchta et al. (2018) as well as other, more limited analyses ( Highton & Larson 1979; Graham 2007; Highton et al.

2012), all of which suggests P. punctatus ’ genetic distinctiveness. This species occurs in the higher elevations of the Ridge and Valley ecoregion, mainly on Shenandoah and North Mountains of West Virginia and Virginia.

References

Crother, B. I., Bonett, R. M., Boundy, J., Burbrink, F. T., de Queiroz, K., Frost, D. R., Highton, R., Iverson, J. B., Jockusch, E. L., Kraus, F., Krysko, K., Leache, A. D., Moriarty Lemmon, E., McDiarmid, R. W., Mendelson III, J. R., Meylan, P. A., Reeder, T. W., Ruane, S. & Seidel, M. E. (2017). Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding, eighth edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles Herpetological Circular, 43, 1 - 102.

Graham, M. R. (2007) Distribution and conservation genetics of the Cow Knob salamander, Plethodon punctatus Highton (Caudata: Plethodontidae). MS thesis, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia, 76 pp.

Highton, R. (1972) Distributional interactions among eastern North American salamanders of the genus Plethodon. In: Holt, P. C. (Ed.), The distributional history of the biota of the southern Appalachians. Part III. Vertebrates. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, pp. 139 - 188.

Highton, R. & Larson, A. (1979) The genetic relationships of the salamanders of the genus Plethodon. Systematic Biology, 28, 579 - 599. https: // doi. org / 10.2307 / sysbio / 28.4.579

Highton, R. (1988) Plethodon punctatus Highton. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles, 414, 1 - 2.

Highton, R., Hatings, A. P., Palmer, C., Watts, R., Hass, C. A., Culver, M. & Arnold, S. J. (2012) Concurrent speciation in the eastern woodland salamanders (genus Plethodon): DNA sequences of the complete albumin nuclear and partial mitochondrial 12 s genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 63, 278 - 290. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. ympev. 2011.12.018

Kuchta, S. R., Brown, A. D. & Highton, R. (2018) Disintegrating over space and time: paraphyly and species delimitation in the Wehrle's salamander complex. Zoologica Scripta, 47, 285 - 299. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / zsc. 12281

Petranka, J. W. (1998) Salamanders of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 587 pp.