Paradactylodon Risch, 1984

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Hynobiidae > Subfamily: Hynobiinae > Genus: Paradactylodon
2 species

Paradactylodon Risch, 1984, Alytes, 3: 44. Type species: Batrachuperus gorganensis Clergue-Gazeau and Thorn, 1979. In error considered a nomen nudum by Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 114, and Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 65–66. Ironically, Dubois was the editor of Risch's 3-page note. And although it is poorly written, this statement serves to meet the requirement (English translation): "the disposition of the vomero-palatine teeth in two series (different in Batrachuperus and Ranodon) each having the shape of an inverse V and flattened at the top (Onychodactylus and even more certain Hynobius are close to this figure while other Hynobius and Salamandrella, while belonging to the same general category, deviate from it in certain details); the internal branches of these series, longer than the external ones, converge at their base without however coming into contact (this being the case with several Hynobius as well)." The implication being that Paradactylodon differs in how the vomeropalatine teeth form Vs from Hynobius and Salamandrella (DRF). 

Iranodon Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77–161. Type species: Batrachuperus persicus Eiselt and Steiner, 1970, by original designation.

Afghanodon Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 157. Type species: Batrachuperus mustersi Smith, 1940, by original designation.

English Names

None noted. 

Distribution

Hyrcanian forests of the Talysch and Elburz mountains, 310–1500 m, Gilan, Golestan, Ardabil, and Mazandaran provinces, Iran; Paghman Range above Paghman, Gardan Diwal in Koh-i-Baba Massif, Salang Pass to northeast of Kabul, Sanglach in Maidan Province and probably Dasht-i-Nawar, Afghanistan, 2750–3050 m elevation.

Comment

Reformulated in content and removed from the synonymy of Batrachuperus (which would otherwise be polyphyletic) by Zhang, Chen, Zhou, Liu, Wang, Papenfuss, Wake, and Qu, 2006, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 103: 7360–7365, where it had been placed by Reilly, 1987, Amphibia-Reptilia, 8: 283–284. See Thorn and Raffaëlli, 2000, Salamand. Ancien Monde: 107–124, for accounts of most species (as Batrachuperus). Baloutch and Kami, 1995, Amph. Iran: 83, noted an unnamed species (as Batrachuperus) in Iran. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543–583, suggested a phylogenetic placement of and relationships among species of the genus. Chen, Wang, Liu, Xie, and Jiang, 2011, Curr. Zool., Chengdu, 57: 785–805, reported on a tree of 11 protein-coding mtDNA genes that confirmed the distant relationship of Pradactylodon and Batrachuperus, placing the former nearer to Ranodon. Ahmadzadeh, Shahrokhi, Saberi-Pirooz, Oladi, Taati, Poyarkov, and Rödder, 2020, Amphibia-Reptilia, 41: 519–534, reported on comparative morphology, molecular phylogeography, biogeography, and habitat of the species.

Contained taxa (2 sp.):

Paradactylodon mustersi (Smith, 1940)
Paradactylodon persicus (Eiselt and Steiner, 1970)

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