Plethodon electromorphus Highton, 1999

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Plethodontidae > Subfamily: Plethodontinae > Genus: Plethodon > Species: Plethodon electromorphus

Plethodon electromorphus Highton, 1999, Herpetologica, 55: 66. Holotype: USNM 507747, by original designation. Type locality: "locality 35, 274 m elevation, Cedar Creek State Park, Gilmer County, West Virginia", USA.

Plethodon (Plethodon) electromorphusVieites, Nieto-Roman, Wake, and Wake, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 59: 632, by implication.

English Names

Northern Ravine Salamander (Highton, 1999, Herpetologica, 55: 66; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 26; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 20; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 14; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 29; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 31).

Distribution

Southeastern Indiana, Ohio (except the northwestern and northeasternmost parts), adjacent northern Kentucky from Jefferson County east to Bracken County and south to southern Gallatin and Grant counties, southwestern Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia east of the New and Kanawha rivers and north of the Teays River Valley, USA.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: United States of America, United States of America - Indiana, United States of America - Kentucky, United States of America - Ohio, United States of America - Pennsylvania, United States of America - West Virginia

Endemic: United States of America

Comment

In the Plethodon cinereus group according to the original publication. See Regester, 2000, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 706: 1–3, for review. Beamer and Lannoo, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 805–806, provided a detailed account that summarized the biology and conservation literature. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 390, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Lehtinen, Steratore, Eyre, Cassagnol, Stern, and Edgington, 2016, Copeia, 2016: 132–139, presented evidence of widespread hybridization with Plethodon cinereus to the point that the author suggested that the populations were merging. Kuchta, Hantak, Waldron, Hickerson, Lehtinen, and Anthony, 2022, Ichthyol. & Herpetol., 110: 430–438, found hybridization with Plethodon cinereus to be substantially less than reported by Lehtinen et al., 2016. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 895–896, provided an account summarizing morphology (no morphological distinction from Plethodon richmondi), life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).  

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