Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
Single word	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Siren Österdam, 1766

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Sirenidae > Genus: Siren

5 species

Siren Österdam, 1766, Siren Lacertina Diss. Acad.: 15. Type species: Siren lacertina Österdam, 1766, by subsequent designation of Harlan, 1827, J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 5: 326. See Dubois, 1991 "1990", Alytes, 8: 107–120, Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 100–101, and Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77–161, for discussion of authorship. Placed on the Official List of Generic Names by Opinion 92, Anonymous, 1926, Smithson. Misc. Collect., 73: 3. See comment.

Syren —Custis In Freeman and Custis, 1807, Account Red River Louisiana: 23. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Sirena — Fischer von Waldheim, 1813, Zoognosia Tab. Synopt. Ill., Ed. 3, 1: 58; Harlan, 1827, J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 5: 322. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Sirene — Oken, 1816, Lehrb. Naturgesch., 3(2): 187. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

English Names

Sirens (Jordan, 1878, Man. Vert. North. U.S., Ed. 2: 198; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 175; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 9; Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 15; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 36; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 9; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 30; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 22; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 35; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 16; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 31; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 34).

Distribution

Southeastern USA from the vicinity of Washington, DC, south along the coast plain through South Carolina to Florida and west to Texas; north to Illinois and Indiana; northern Tamaulipas and north-central Veracruz, Mexico.

Comment

Reviewed by Martof, 1974, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 152: 1–2. See species accounts by Petranka, 1998, Salamand. U.S. Canada: 484–492. Siren lacertina Linnaeus, 1766 is the type species of Siren Linnaeus, 1767, according to Direction 57, Anonymous, 1956, Opin. Declar. Internatl. Comm. Zool. Nomencl., 10: 373. See accounts of species by Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 40–43. Graham, Kline, Steen, and Kelehear, 2018, PLoS One, 13 (12: e0207460): 1–16, presented evidence that species delimitations within Siren are imperfect.

Contained taxa (5 sp.):

Siren intermedia Barnes, 1826

Siren lacertina Österdam, 1766

Siren nettingi Goin, 1942

Siren reticulata Graham, Kline, Steen, and Kelehear, 2018

Siren sphagnicola Fedler, Enge, and Moler, 2023

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