Amphibian Species of the World 5.6, an Online Reference

Siredon Tigrina Velasco, 1879, Naturaleza, 4: 212. Syntypes: Animals figured in plates 7, 8, and 9 in the original publication; deposition of specimens not stated; possibly MNHNP or MDUG. Type locality: "encontrada en al lago de Santa Isabel, cerca de la Villa de Guadelupe Hidalgo, Valle de México", D.F., Mexico. Secondary homonym of Salamandra tigrina Green, 1825 (= Ambystoma tigrinum). Distinctiveness from Ambystoma mavortium questioned by Cope, 1879, Am. Nat., 13: 456. .

Amblystoma velasci Dugès, 1888, Naturaleza, Ser. 2, 1: 142. Syntypes: Not stated or known to exist, according to Smith and Necker, 1943, An. Esc. Nac. Cienc. Biol., México, 3: 185; syntypes are MDUG 579-81, according to O. Flores-Villela, personal commun.. Type locality: "Lago de Santa Isabel, Cerca de la Villa de Hidalgo, Mexico" (= Villa Gustavo Madero, Distrito Federal). Now within the limits of Ciudad México; see Maldonado-Koerdell, 1948, Mem. Rev. Acad. Nac. Cienc. Antonio Alzate, 56: 185-226).

Ambystoma tigrinum velascoi Lafrentz, 1930, Abh. Ber. Mus. Nat. Heimatkd. Magdeburg, 6: 105. Holotype: Not known with certainty, perhaps MM 53/29, but destroyed in WW II, according to Brame, 1972, Checklist Living & Fossil Salamand. World (Unpubl. MS): 149. Type locality: "Texcoco-See" (Lake Texcoco, Mexico). See Smith and Taylor, 1948, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 194: 12, for discussion of authorship.

Ambystoma tigrinum velasci — Dunn, 1940, Copeia, 1940: 157.

Ambystoma lacustris Taylor and Smith, 1945, Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., 95: 532. Holotype: USNM 117410, by original designation. Type locality: "Lake Zumpango, México", Mexico; corrected to "Lake Texcoco, Mexico, Mexico" by Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 6; this verified by Brandon, 1989, in Armstrong and Malacinski (eds.), Developmental Biol. Axolotl: 18. Synonymy (with Ambystoma velasci) by Brandon, 1989, in Armstrong and Malacinski (eds.), Developmental Biol. Axolotl: 18; Brandon, 1989 "1988", Herpetologica, 44: 427-430. Incorrect gender of the species name (DRF).

Ambystoma velasci — Taylor, 1952, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 34: 795.

Ambystoma (Ambystoma) lacustris — Tihen, 1958, Bull. Florida State Mus., Biol. Sci., 3: 3.

Ambystoma zumpangoensis González, Mendoza-Quijano, Mancilla, and Camarillo, 1985, Mem. 8ta Congr. Nac. Zool., Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico: 875. Types: Not stated. Type locality: "Cuenca del Valle de México". Nomen nudum. Synonymy by Smith and Smith, 1993, Synops. Herpetofauna Mex., 7: 11.

Ambystoma lacustre — Frost, 1985, Amph. Species World: 555. Correction of the gender of the species name to neuter.

Ambystoma tigrinum valasci — Petranka, 1998, Salamand. U.S. Canada: 112. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

English Names

Plateau Tiger Salamander (Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 9; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 27; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 28).

Distribution

Northwestern Chihuahua south along the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental and southern Nuevo Leon in the Sierra Madre Oriental, west to Zacatecas, and south into the Transverse Volcanic range of central Mexico.

Comment

Shaffer and McKnight, 1996, Evolution, 50, presented data that suggested that the status of the Mexican species related to Ambystoma tigrinum are controversial and/or unstable, and that some populations of Ambystoma tigrinum velasci are highly distinctive from each other, in some cases being more closely related to other species than to each other. Subsequently, Irschick and Shaffer, 1997, Herpetologica, 53: 30-49, recognized taxonomically Ambystoma velasci as a species distinct from Ambystoma tigrinum (in the sense of including Ambystoma mavortium), although they noted that Ambystoma velasci might not be monophyletic with respect to some of the insular Mexican species of Ambystoma. Highton, 2000, in Bruce et al., Biol. Plethodontid Salamanders: 221, suggested that populations from Chihuahua, Jalisco, and Mexico, Mexico, likely represented distinct species and that populations currently under the names Ambystoma granulosum, Ambystoma lermaensis, Ambystoma altamirani, and Ambystoma velasci in the region of the state of Mexico might represent another. Raffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Monde: 83-84, provided a brief account, figure, and map. Dundee and Liner, 1976, Herpetol. Rev., 7: 178, provided a record for Zacatecas, Mexico.

External Links

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• For additional sources of information from other sites search Google
• For images search Arkive, CalPhoto Images and Google Images
• To search the NIH genetic sequence database, see GenBank
• For information aggregation from other sites and some original accounts see AmphibiaWeb report
• For further information on conservation status and distribution see the IUCN Redlist
• For related information on conservation and images as well as observation see iNaturalist;
• for a quick link to their maps see iNaturalist KML