Lyciasalamandra Veith and Steinfartz, 2004

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Salamandridae > Subfamily: Salamandrinae > Genus: Lyciasalamandra

Lyciasalamandra Veith and Steinfartz, 2004, Salamandra, 40: 71. Type species: Molge luschani Steindachner, 1891, by original designation.

English Names

None noted.

Distribution

Restricted to the southwestern coast of Turkey and nearby Aegean Islands (including Kastellorizon, Karpathos, Saria, and Kasos, in Greece).

Comment

Titus and Larson, 1995, Syst. Biol., 44: 125-151, suggested that Mertensiella might be paraphyletic with respect to Salamandra and Chioglossa. Veith, Steinfartz, Zardoya, Seitz, and Meyer, 1998, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 36: 7-16, firmly supported the notion that it must be either para- or polyphyletic, with Mertensiella caucasica closer to Chioglossa lusitanica, and Mertensiella luschani the sister taxon of Salamandra. Weisrock, Macey, Ugurtas, Larson, and Papenfuss, 2001, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 18: 434-448, corroborated this arrangement and placed Mertensiella luschani in Salamandra. See Baran and Üncüncü, 1994, Mertensiella, 4: 33-40, for characterization and distribution of subsidiary taxa (as subspecies of Mertensiella luschani) in Turkey. Weisrock, Macey, Ugurtas, Larson, and Papenfuss, 2001, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 18: 434-448, provided a discussion of phylogenetics of the species (as races of Mertensiella luschani) and their relationship to the other species of Salamandra and noted that Salamandra luschani represents a species complex. Veith, Baran, Godmann, Kiefer, Öz, and Tunç, 2001, Zool. Middle East, 22: 67-82, discussed the ecological and geographical distribution. Basoglu and Özeti, 1973, Türkiye Amphibileri: 38-40, provided an account for the Turkish populations. Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 191-203, provided an account. Özeti and Yilmaz, 1994, Türkiye Amfibileri: 55-60, provided an account for Turkish populations (as Mertensiella luschani) and also provided a key to the species (as subspecies). Steinfartz and Mutz, 1999, in Grossenbacher and Thiesmeier (eds.), Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., 4(1): 367-397, provided a review of the biology (as Mertensiella luschani). Veith and Steinfartz, 2004, Salamandra, 40, summarized the taxonomic history of this group and provided a revision, recognizing most of the former subspecies as species. Weisrock, Papenfuss, Macey, Litvinchuk, Polymeni, Ugurtas, Zhao, Jowkar, and Larson, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 41: 855-857, on the basis of DNA sequence evidence found Lyciasalamandra to be the sister taxon of Salamandra. Veith, Lipscher, Öz, Kiefer, Baran, Polymeni, and Steinfartz, 2008, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 47: 916-931, reported on biogeography and phylogenetics among the species. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543-583, on the basis of a study of legacy DNA sequences also provided an estimate of the relationship of the species. Rödder, Lötters, Öz, Bogaerts, Eleftherakos, and Veith, 2011, Organisms Divers. Evol., 11: 409-423, reported on climatic niche similarity among the species.

Contained taxa

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