Plethodon virginia Highton, 1999

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

Plethodon virginia Highton, 1999, Herpetologica, 55: 66. Holotype: USNM 507764, by original designation. Type locality: "along the jeep trail from 0.2-0.9 km southeast and south-southeast of the top of Cow Knob (38° 41′ 25″ N, 79° 05′ 17″ W) at an elevation of 1100-1200 m, along the Pendleton County, West Virginia-Rockingham County, Virginia state line", USA.

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

English Names

Shenandoah Mountain 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: 29; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 21; 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: 30; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 32).

Distribution

Mountainous region along the borders of eastern West Virginia and western Virginia, south of the headwaters of the South Branch of the Potomac River, USA.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: United States of America, United States of America - Virginia, United States of America - West Virginia

Endemic: United States of America

Comment

In the Plethodon cinereus group, and forming a narrow hybrid zone with Plethodon hoffmani according to the original publication. Beamer and Lannoo, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 850–852, provided a detailed account that summarized the biology and conservation literature. See statement of geographic range, habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 640. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 390, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 893–894, provided an account summarizing morphology, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).

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