Salamandra algira Bedriaga, 1883
Salamandra maculosa var. algira Bedriaga, 1883, Arch. Naturgesch., 49: 252. Type(s): Not stated or known to exist; NHMW 9251 designated neotype by Eiselt, 1958, Abh. Ber. Naturkd. Magdeburg, 10: 133. Type locality: "Mont Edough bei Bôna", Algeria; neotype from "Mt. Edough bei Bône, Algerien".
Salamandra salamandra algira — Nikolskii, 1918, Fauna Rossii, Zemnovodnye: 187.
Salamandra algira — Veith, 1996, Amphibia-Reptilia, 17: 174-177.
Salamandra algira algira — Donaire-Barroso and Bogaerts, 2003, Podarcis, 4: 88. by implication.
Salamandra algira tingitana Donaire-Barroso and Bogaerts, 2003, Podarcis, 4: 88. Holotype: MNCN 41037, by original designation. Type locality: "500 m altitude on Jabal Muse (= Jabal Mousa) north Morocco".
Salamandra algira spelaea Escoriza and Comas, 2007, Salamandra, 43: 80. Holotype: MNCN 2005-05550, by original designation. Type locality: "Ouartass, Beni Snassen massif, Northeast-Morocco (Locality 5, at approximately 1300 m above sea level)".
Salamandra (Algiandra) algira algira — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 68.
Salamandra (Algiandra) algira spelaea — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 68.
Salamandra (Algiandra) tingitana — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 68.
English Names
North African Fire Salamander (Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 606).
Distribution
Isolated populations in Northwest Africa in northern Morocco (including Ceuta, Spain), northern Algeria, and northern Tunisia (see comment).
Comment
See accounts by Salvador, 1996, Smithson. Herpetol. Inform. Serv., 109: 7, and Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 176-178 (who did not include Tunisia in the range). Donaire-Barroso and Bogaerts, 2003, Podarcis, 4: 84-100, discussed the systematics of this species. Raffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Monde: 159, provided brief accounts, figures, 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: 606, who regarded the Tunisian record as suspect. Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 35, based their taxonomic decision to recognize Salamandra tingitana as a distinct species on evidence provided by Steinfartz, Veith, and Tautz, 2000, Mol. Ecol., 9: 397-410, and Escoriza and Comas, 2007, Salamandra, 43: 77-90. Beukema, de Pous, Donaire-Barroso, Escoriza, Bogaerts, Toxopeus, de Bie, Roca, and Carranza, 2010, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 101: 626-641, suggested that Salamandra algira spelaea is the sister taxon of Salamandra algira algira + Salamandra algira tingitana. These authors rejected the recognition of Salamandra tingitana as a distinct species although noting that the allopatric populations are ecologically distinctive and diagnosible. I (DRF) have followed the state of the literature, but note that showing that Salamandra algira spelaea, Salamandra algira tingitana, and Salamandra algira algira populations are allopatric, ecologically and morphologically distinctive, and substantially differentiated at a molecular level, they have presented evidence that all three populations could be considered species under a lineage species concept. For an example see Aneides iecanus (Plethodontidae).
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
