Foothills Dusky Salamander
Desmognathus anicetus
Pyron and Beamer, 2023
DEZ-moh-NAY-thus — an-ih-SEE-tus
SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
New Species. Delimited from D. conanti by Pyron and Beamer (2023, Zootaxa 5311: 451–504).
(Pyron, R. Alexander, Christopher K. Beachy, David A. Beamer, and Kenneth M. Kozak. 2025. Caudata – Salamanders. Pages 10-21 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)
Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.08.31.16.48.23)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.02 MB
Province/State Distribution:
Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its evolutionary distinctiveness.
Desmognathus — Greek desmos = “ligament” + gnathos = “jaw”
anicetus — Greek aniketos = “unconquerable” or “ancient” — possibly referring to its basal position in the genus phylogeny.
First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
Amphibian Species of the World
GenBank
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database
Selected References:
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1993
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Arnold, Steven J., Nancy L. Reagan, and Paul A. Verrell. Reproductive isolation and speciation in plethodontid salamanders. Herpetologica 49(2):216-228
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1996
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Titus, Tom A. and Allan Larson. Molecular phylogenetics of Desmognathine salamanders (Caudata: Plethodontidae): A reevaluation of evolution in ecology, life history, and morphology. Systematic Biology 45(4):451-472
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2010
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Kozak, Kenneth H. and John J. Wiens. Accelerated rates of climatic-niche evolution underlie rapid species diversification. Ecology Letters 13:1378-1389
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2022
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Pyron, R. Alexander and David A. Beamer. Nomenclatural solutions for diagnosing ‘cryptic’ species using molecular and morphological data facilitate a taxonomic revision of the Black-bellied Salamanders (Urodela, Desmognathus ‘quadramaculatus’) from the southern Appalachian Mountains. Bionomina 27(1):1–43
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