Batrachuperus tibetanus Schmidt, 1925

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Hynobiidae > Subfamily: Hynobiinae > Genus: Batrachuperus > Species: Batrachuperus tibetanus

Batrachuperus tibetanus Schmidt, 1925, Am. Mus. Novit., 157: 5. Holotype: AMNH 5900, by original designation. Type locality: "near Tibetan border of Kansu [= Gansu], southwest of Titao, 9000 feet altitude", at about latitude 33° N, in the In Hwang Ho drainage, Gansu, China.

Batrachuperus thibetinaChang, 1936, Contr. Etude Morphol. Biol. Syst. Amph. Urodeles Chine: 78. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Batrachuperus (Batrachuperus) tibetanus — Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 58. 

English Names

Chiala Mountain Salamander (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 28).

Tibetan Mountain Salamander (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 28).

Alpine Stream Salamander (Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 36).

Distribution

Southeastern Gansu, southern Shaanxi, northern Sichuan, and eastern Qinghai, China.   

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: China, People's Republic of

Endemic: China, People's Republic of

Comment

Closely related to Batrachuperus pinchonii, according to Schmidt, 1927, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 54: 544 (with which it was placed in synonymy by Chang, 1936, Contr. Etude Morphol. Biol. Syst. Amph. Urodeles Chine: 78). Removed from the synonymy of Batrachuperus pinchonii by Fei, Ye, and Tian, 1983, Acta Zootaxon. Sinica, 8: 212. See Zhao and Jiang, 1988, in Zhao et al. (eds.), Studies on Chinese Salamanders: 49. See accounts by Ye, Fei, and Hu, 1993, Rare and Economic Amph. China: 60, and by Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 36. Fu, Wang, Zeng, Liu, and Zheng, 2001, Copeia, 2001: 1100–1107, suggested on the basis of molecular evidence that nominal Batrachuperus tibetanus is composed of four species, three of which are undescribed (Hongya population, relatively close to Batrachuperus londongensis; Penxian population, relatively close to Batrachuperus pinchonii; and Zhedoushan population, relatively close to Batrachuperus karlschmidti). See accounts by Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 114–116, and Raffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Monde: 60–61. Fei and Ye, 2001, Color Handbook Amph. Sichuan: 92, provided a brief account and illustration. In the Batrachuperus thibetanus group of Fei, Ye, Huang, Jiang, and Xie, 2005, in Fei et al. (eds.), Illust. Key Chinese Amph.: 36, although they only addressed Chinese species. In the Batrachuperus tibetanus group of Fei, Ye, Huang, Jiang, and Xie, 2005, in Fei et al. (eds.), Illust. Key Chinese Amph.: 36, although they only addressed Chinese species. Fei, Hu, Ye, and Huang, 2006, Fauna Sinica, Amph. 1: 233–239, provided an account and noted misidentifications in the literature. See account of Batrachuperus taibaiensis. 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: 548. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Colored Atlas of Chinese Amph.: 68–69, provided a brief account including photographs of specimens and habitat. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 74–75, provided an account, photographs, and a map. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 77–78, provided a brief account, photo, and map.  Fu and Zeng, 2008, Mol. Ecol., 17: 1469–1488, suggested that mtDNA data did not support the recognition of Batrachuperus taibaiensis from Batrachuperus tibetanus, but refrained from a taxonomic change pending evaluation of morphology. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 45–48, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species (as Batrachuperus taibaiensis and Batrachuperus tibetanus). Fei and Ye, 2016, Amph. China, 1: 249–251, provided an account, photographs, and range map and considered Batrachuperus taibaiensis synonymous with Batrachuperus tibetanus. See account by Yao and Gong, 2012, Amph. Rept. Gansu: 23–24, who provided a brief account and photograph. See Xiong, Luo, and Zeng, 2020, Zool. Res., Kunming, 41: 589–594, for a partial distribution map and discussion of relationships. Che, Jiang, Yan, and Zhang, 2020, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 57, noted that previous records of this species from Tibet are referable to Batrachuperus karlschmidti.  Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 58–60, provided a detailed account, covering systematics, life history, and distribution (including a polygon map). 

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