Notophthalmus meridionalis (Cope, 1880)
Diemyctylus miniatus meridionalis Cope, 1880, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 17: 30. Type(s): Not designated; ANSP 1104-1106 (Helotes, Texas, USA) and ANSP 15977 (San Diego, Texas, USA) catalogued as types according to Brame, 1972, Checklist Living & Fossil Salamand. World (Unpubl. MS): 57. Type locality: "Matamoros, Mexico . . . tributaries of the Medina River and southward"; restricted to "Matamoros, Tamaulipas", Mexico, by Stejneger and Barbour, 1933, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 3: 3; Smith and Taylor, 1948, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 194: 15.
Molge meridionalis — Boulenger, 1888, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 6, 1: 24. Boulenger, 1890, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1890: 326.
Diemyctylus viridescens meridionalis — Cope, 1889, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 34: 211.
Diemyctylus meridionalis — Strecker, 1908, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 21: 48.
Notophthalmus meridionalis — Stejneger and Barbour, 1917, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept.: 7.
Triturus meridionalis — Dunn, 1918, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 62: 452.
Diemictylus meridionalis — Wolterstorff, 1925, Abh. Ber. Mus. Nat. Heimatkd. Magdeburg, 4: 293.
Diemyctylus kallerti Wolterstorff, 1930, Abh. Ber. Mus. Nat. Heimatkd. Magdeburg, 6: 147. Holotype: MM N.V. 44/29, ex. nr. 1 (destroyed in W.W.II), according to Brame, 1972, Checklist Living & Fossil Salamand. World (Unpubl. MS): 58. Type locality: "Angeblich Tampico-Mexiko. Wahrscheinlich aus dem gebirgigen Hinterland", Veracruz, Mexico. Synonymy (with Notophthalmus viridiscens) by Herre, 1936, Abh. Ber. Mus. Nat. Heimatkd. Magdeburg, 6: 196; with Notophthalmus meridionalis by Mecham, 1968, J. Herpetol., 2: 121-27.
Triturus kallerti — Smith, 1934, Am. Midl. Nat., 15: 407.
Notophthalmus viridescens kallerti — Herre, 1936, Abh. Ber. Mus. Nat. Heimatkd. Magdeburg, 6: 196.
Notophthalmus kallerti — Smith, 1953, Herpetologica, 9: 98.
Notophthalmus meridionalis meridionalis — Mecham, 1968, J. Herpetol., 2: 121-27.
Notophthalmus meridionalis kallerti — Mecham, 1968, J. Herpetol., 2: 121.
Notophthalmus (Rafinus) meridionalis — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 57, 66.
English Names
Texas Triton (Notophthalmus meridionalis: Yarrow, 1882, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 24: 22).
Texas Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis: Strecker, 1915, Baylor Bull., 18: 54; Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 82).
Black-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis: Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 174; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 9; Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 12; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 35; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 8; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 25; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2008, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 37: 20; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 31; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 15; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 29).
Black-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis meridionalis: Conant, 1975, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. Cent. N. Am., Ed. 2: 259; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 15).
Southern Black-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis meridionalis: Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 12).
Texas Black-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis meridionalis: Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 8; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 25; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2008, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 37: 20; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 31; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 29).
Mexican Black-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis kallerti: Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 12; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 31).
Distribution
Gulf coast of southern Texas (USA) into adjacent Tamaulipas, Mexico, south to northern Veracruz (Siberia), eastern San Luis Potosí, extreme northeastern Hidalgo, and Puebla, Mexico.
Comment
Reviewed by Mecham, 1968, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 74: 1-2. Mecham, 1968, J. Herpetol., 2: 121-127, noted that intergradation of the two subspecies is narrow and geographic variation within subspecies low. Mendoza-Quijano, Mejenes-López, and Barragán-Torres, 2002, Bol. Soc. Herpetol. Mexicana, 10: 53-54, reported the species for the state of Hidalgo and discussed the overall distribution of the species. Raffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Monde: 139, provided brief accounts by subspecies (although he suggested that kallerti is likely a distinct species), figure, and map. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 605.
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
