Amphibian Species of the World 5.6, an Online Reference

Spelerpes chiropterus Cope, 1863, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 15: 54. Type(s): Smithsonian Instituion, presumed lost as not mentioned in type list. Type locality: "Mirador, near Vera Cruz, 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.

Oedipus chiropterus — Dunn, 1924, Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Publ., Zool. Ser., 12: 99.

Bolitoglossa chiroptera — Taylor, 1940 "1939", Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 26: 410.

Chiropterotriton chiroptera — Taylor, 1944, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 30: 216.

Chiropterotriton chiropterus — Wake and Lynch, 1976, Sci. Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 25: 59.

English Names

Common Splayfoot Salamander (Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 11; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 30).

Common Flat-footed Salamander (Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 30).

Distribution

Low elevations in or near the Huatusco--Xalapa region of Veracruz, Mexico (see comment).

Comment

Darda, 1994, Herpetologica, 50: 167-184, suggested that this binominal covers as many as eleven cryptic species; his population from near La Joya, Veracruz, he applied the name Chiropterotriton chiropterus; this application was rejected by Parra-Olea, 2003, Canad. J. Zool., 81: 2057, who noted that Chiropterotriton chiropterus is not found at this locality. To Darda's population from Chignahuapan, Puebla, Darda, 1994, Herpetologica, 50: 167-184, applied the name Chiropterotriton orculus; this was also rejected by Parra-Olea, 2003, Canad. J. Zool., 81: 2057. Nine species, formerly associated under the name Chiropterotriton chiropterus, from high elevation of the states of Mexico, Puebla, Guerrero, Veracruz, San Luis Potosi, and Morelos, remain unnamed. Uribe-Peña, Ramírez-Bautista, and Casas-Andreu, 1999, Cuad. Inst. Biol., UNAM, 32: 28-29, provided an account and provided the range of the complex. Raffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Monde: 230, provided a brief account and map.

External Links

Please note: these links will take you to external websites not affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History. We are not responsible for their content.

• 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