Isthmura maxima (Parra-Olea, García-París, Papenfuss, and Wake, 2005)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Plethodontidae > Subfamily: Hemidactyliinae > Genus: Isthmura > Species: Isthmura maxima

Pseudoeurycea maxima Parra-Olea, García-París, Papenfuss, and Wake, 2005, Herpetologica, 61: 154. Holotype: MVZ 106581, by original designation. Type locality: "6 km south of Putla de Guerrero, Oaxaca, Mexico, approximately 16° 58.7′ N, 97° 53.8′ W; elevation approximately 750 m)".

Pseudoeurycea (Isthmura) maximaDubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77-161.

Isthmura maxima — Rovito, Parra-Olea, Recuero, and Wake, 2015, Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 175: 185.

English Names

Southern Giant Salamander (original publication).

Putla Giant Salamander (Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 646).

Distribution

Far western and southern Oaxaca as far south as 15 km north of San Gabriel Mixtepec, in elevation as low as 730 m but generally above 2000 m elevation, west to Ejido Tres Marias, Muncipality of Malinaltepec, Guerrero, Mexico.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Mexico

Endemic: Mexico

Comment

In the Pseudoeurycea bellii complex according to the original publication. Raffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Monde: 222, provided a brief account and map, and considered it to be in the Pseudoeurycea bellii complex of the Pseudoeurycea bellii group. Delia, Whitney, and Parra-Olea, 2008, Check List, 4: 65-68, provided the southern-most record in Oaxaca, Mexico. García-Vázquez and Durán-Fuentes, 2012, Herpetol. Rev., 43: 438, provided a record for Guerrero, Mexico, in the municipality of Malinaltepec. Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 287–288, provided a brief account, photograph, and map. Bryson, Zarza, Grummer, Parra-Olea, Flores-Villela, Klicka, and McCormack, 2018, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 125: 75–84, provided a tree and discussed the phylogenomic diversification of the genus across the Mexican highlands. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 642–643, provided an account summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).   

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