Western Shovel-nosed Salamander
Desmognathus intermedius
(Pope, 1928)
DEZ-moh-NAY-thus — in-ter-MEE-dee-us
SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
Elevated from the synonymy of Desmognathus marmoratus by Pyron and Beamer (2023, Zootaxa 5270: 262–280).
(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: 2023.08.31.10.16.19)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.04 MB
Province/State Distribution:
Taxonomic Etymology:
Reflecting intermediate traits.
Desmognathus — Greek desmos = “ligament” + gnathos = “jaw”
intermedius — Latin intermedius = “intermediate”; Alludes to morphological traits between other Desmognathus species.
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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1928
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Pope, Clifford H. Some plethodontid salamanders from North Carolina and Kentucky with the description of a new race of Leurognathus. American Museum Novitates 306:1-19
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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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2020
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Beamer, David A. and Trip Lamb. Towards rectifying limitations on species delineation in dusky salamanders (Desmognathus: Plethodontidae): An ecoregion-drainage sampling grid reveals additional cryptic clades. Zootaxa 4734(1):1–61
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2025
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Pyron, R. Alexander, Kyle A. O'connell, Edward A. Myers, David A. Beamer, and Hector Banos. Complex hybridization in a clade of polytypic salamanders (Plethodontidae: Desmognathus) uncovered by estimating higher-level phylogenetic networks. Systematic Biology 74(1):124-140
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