Oedipina Keferstein, 1868

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Plethodontidae > Subfamily: Hemidactyliinae > Genus: Oedipina
40 species

Oedipina Keferstein, 1868, Arch. Naturgesch., 34: 299. Type species: Oedipina uniformis Keferstein, 1868, by monotypy. Also described as new by Keferstein, 1868, Nachr. Ges. Wiss. Göttingen, 1868: 331.

Ophiobatrachus Gray, 1868, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 4, 2: 297. Type species: Ophiobatrachus vermicularis Gray, 1868 (= Oedipina uniformis Keferstein, 1868), by monotypy. Synonymy by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Grad. Batr. Apoda Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 75; Brame, 1968, J. Herpetol., 2: 34.

OpheobatrachusCope, 1869, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 21: 101. Variant spelling.

Haptoglossa Cope, 1893, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., 31: 334. Type species: Haptoglossa pressicauda Cope, 1893, by monotypy. Synonymy by Brame, 1968, J. Herpetol., 2: 34.

OedopinaHilton, 1946, J. Entomol. Zool., Pomona, 38: 38. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Oedopinola Hilton, 1946, J. Entomol. Zool., Pomona, 38: 38. Type species: Oedipus complex Dunn, 1924, by original designation. Synonymy by Tanner, 1950, Great Basin Nat., 10: 37-44.

Oeditriton McCranie, Vieites, and Wake, 2008, Zootaxa, 1930: 2: 5. Type species: not designated. Invalid due to lack of type species according to  Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 283, who provided a replacement, Thornella

Thornella Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 283. Type species: Oedipina quadra McCranie, Vieites, and Wake, 2008. Treated as a genus without explanation. Treated as a subgenus by Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 859).

English Names

Tropical Worm Salamanders (Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 13; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 30).

Worm Salamanders (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 32).

Distribution

Chiapas, Mexico, south through Central America to western and Magdalena Valley of Colombia and south-central Ecuador.

Comment

Brame, 1968, J. Herpetol., 2: 1–64, who revised the genus, recognized two species groups, the Oedipina parvipes group and the Oedipina uniformis group; these were subsequently recognized as the subgenera Oedopinola and Oedipina, respectively, by García-París and Wake, 2000, Copeia, 2000: 42–70. See Good and Wake, 1997, Rev. Biol. Tropical, 45: 1185–1208, for discussion of relationships within the genus and a partial revision. Savage, 2002, Amph. Rept. Costa Rica: 145–157, provided a key and accounts for the species of Costa Rica. McCranie, Vieites, and Wake, 2008, Zootaxa, 1930: 1–17, suggested that Oedipina is the sister taxon of Nototriton and that Oeditriton (subgenus of Oedipina) is the sister taxon of the subgenera Oedipina and Oediopinola. McCranie and Townsend, 2011, Zootaxa, 2990: 59–68, presented a tree of the species. In the tribe Bolitoglossini of Vieites, Nieto-Roman, Wake, and Wake, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 59: 633. Köhler, 2011, Amph. Cent. Am.: 82–90, provided a brief summary of natural history, a key to the species of Central America, and range maps and photographs of the species. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 371–385, provided brief accounts, photographs, and range maps for the species. Ovalle-Pacheco, Camacho-Rozo, and Arroyo, 2019, Check List, 15: 400, reported an apparently unnamed species in the state of Boyacá, Colombia, associated with the Magdalena Valley, 1000 to 1100 m elevation. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 846–875, provided species accounts summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).

Contained taxa (40 sp.):

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.