Plethodon montanus Highton and Peabody, 2000

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

Plethodon montanus Highton and Peabody, 2000, in Bruce et al., Biol. Plethodontid Salamanders: 58. Holotype: USNM 438400, by original designation. Type locality: "Deep Gap (36° 39′ 28″ N 81° 33′ 25″ W), 1 km west of the top of Mt. Rogers, Grayson-Smyth county line, Virginia, at an elevation of 500 m", USA.

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

English Names

Northern Gray-cheeked Salamander (original publication; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 27; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 21; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 30; Powell, Conant, and Collins, 2016, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. North Am., 4th ed.: 75; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 31).

Northern Graycheek Salamander (Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 14).

Distribution

Isolated populations in the Valley and Ridge Province of Virginia, and in the Blue Ridge Province of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, USA, 260 to 1500 m elevation.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: United States of America, United States of America - North Carolina, United States of America - Tennessee, United States of America - Virginia

Endemic: United States of America

Comment

In the Plethodon glutinosus group, Plethodon jordani complex, according to the original publication. Beamer and Lannoo, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 826–828, provided a detailed account that summarized the biology and conservation literature. Weisrock and Larson, 2006, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 89: 25–51, discussed the phylogenetic status of this species. Moskwik, 2014, J. Biogeograph., 41: 1957–1966, documented in this species significant elevational range changes since the 1940s. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 401, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Reynolds, Reynolds, Reynolds, and Reynolds, 2022, Herpetol. Rev., 53: 69, provided a record from Buncombe County, North Carolina, USA, from the High Top Mountains east of Hookers Gap. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 925–926, provided an account summarizing systematics, morphology, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).   

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