Ambystoma opacum (Gravenhorst, 1807)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Ambystomatidae > Genus: Ambystoma > Species: Ambystoma opacum

Salamandra opaca Gravenhorst, 1807, Vergleich. Uebersicht Linn. Neuern Zool. Syst.: 431. Type(s): Not known to exist; although likely including the animal figured in pl. 10 of Gravenhorst, 1829, Delic. Mus. Zool. Vratislav., 1: 75. Type locality: "Neuyork in Nordamerika" (= New York), USA.

Salamandra fasciata Green, 1818, J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1: 350. Syntypes: ANSP 1420–23, according to Fowler and Dunn, 1917, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 69: 9. Type locality: Not stated but presumably the vicinity of Princeton, New Jersey, USA, the residence of the author; restricted to "vicinity of Princeton, New Jersey", USA, by Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 21. Tentative synonymy by Duméril, Bibron, and Duméril, 1854, Erp. Gen., 9: 63; synonymy by Baird, 1850 "1849", J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Ser. 2, 1: 283; Cope, 1868 "1867", Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 19: 173.

Salamandra gravenhorstii Fitzinger, 1826, Neue Class. Rept.: 66. Substitute name for Salamandra opaca Gravenhorst, 1807. Attributed to Leuckart.

Ambystoma opacaBaird, 1850 "1849", J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Ser. 2, 1: 283.

Amblystoma opacumGray, 1850, Cat. Spec. Amph. Coll. Brit. Mus., Batr. Grad.: 36.

Ambystoma faciatumDuméril, Bibron, and Duméril, 1854, Erp. Gen., 9: 106. Based on specimens of Ambystoma tigrinum by implication of Cope, 1889, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 34: 68.

Salamandra armigera Duméril, Bibron, and Duméril, 1854, Erp. Gen., 9: 106. Nomen nudum attributed to Valenciennes and named in synonymy of Ambystoma fasciatum.

Ambistoma fasciatumJan, 1857, Cenni Mus. Civ. Milano: 55. Incorrect subsequent spelling of generic name.

Salamandroides gravenhorstiiFitzinger, 1864, Bilder Altas Wissenschaftl. Naturgesch. Amph.: pl. 97, fig. 173.

Ambystoma opacumDunn, 1918, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 62: 456.

Ambystoma (Ambystoma) opacumTihen, 1958, Bull. Florida State Mus., Biol. Sci., 3: 3, 38.

Ambystoma (Xiphonura) opacumDubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77–161.

English Names

Blotched Salamander (Salamandra fasciata [no longer recognized]: De Kay, 1842, Zool. New York, 1(3): 76; Amblystoma opacum: Smith, 1877, Tailed Amph.: 37).

Banded Salamander (Salamandra fasciata [no longer recognized]: Green, 1818, J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1: 350; Gray, 1831, in Cuvier, Animal Kingdom (Griffith), 9—Appendix: 106; Storer, 1840, Boston J. Nat. Hist., 3: 56; Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 103).

Banded Salamander (Ambystoma opacum: Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 103).

Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum: Yarrow, 1882, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 24: 20; Hay, 1892, Annu. Rep. Dept. Geol. Nat. Res. Indiana for 1891: 437; Fowler, 1907, Annu. Rep. N.J. State Mus. for 1906: 39; Brimley, 1907, J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc., 23: 153; Strecker, 1915, Baylor Univ. Bull., 18: 55; Stejneger and Barbour, 1917, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept.: 10; Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 147; Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 21; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 27; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 5; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 18; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 14; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 10; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 24; Powell, Conant, and Collins, 2016, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. North Am., 4th ed.: 35; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 23).

Blotched Salamander (Fowler, 1907, Annu. Rep. N.J. State Mus. for 1906: 39).

Opaque Salamander (Jordan, 1878, Man. Vert. North. U.S., Ed. 2: 195; Davis and Rice, 1883, Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci., 1: 26).

Distribution

From southern New Hampshire and southern New York, west to northern Indiana and adjacent Michigan and south to northern Florida, and southwestward to eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas, USA.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: United States of America, United States of America - Alabama, United States of America - Arkansas, United States of America - Connecticut, United States of America - Delaware, United States of America - District of Columbia, United States of America - Florida, United States of America - Georgia, United States of America - Illinois, United States of America - Indiana, United States of America - Kentucky, United States of America - Louisiana, United States of America - Maryland, United States of America - Massachusetts, United States of America - Michigan, United States of America - Mississippi, United States of America - Missouri, United States of America - New Hampshire, United States of America - New Jersey, United States of America - New York, United States of America - North Carolina, United States of America - Ohio, United States of America - Oklahoma, United States of America - Pennsylvania, United States of America - Rhode Island, United States of America - South Carolina, United States of America - Tennessee, United States of America - Texas, United States of America - Virginia, United States of America - West Virginia

Endemic: United States of America

Comment

See detailed accounts by Anderson, 1967, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 46: 1–2, Petranka, 1998, Salamand. U.S. Canada: 88–96, and Scott, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 627–632. Williams, Lawson, Brown, Bouchonet, Dancourt, and Beane, 2014, Herpetol. Rev., 45: 86, provided a northern record in the Appalachians of North Carolina, USA Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 106–107, provided a brief account, photo, and map. Altig and McDiarmid, 2015, Handb. Larval Amph. US and Canada: 90–92, provided an account of larval morphology. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 168–170, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). Bassett, 2023, Reptiles & Amphibians, 30(e18486): 1–18, provided an updated county distribution map for Texas, USA. 

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