THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  

Pygmy Salamander
Desmognathus wrighti King, 1936

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.08.20.40.10)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.08 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: North Carolina Tennessee

First instance(s) of published English names:
Pygmy Salamander (Desmognathus wrighti: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Pigmy Salamander (Desmognathus wrighti: Conant, Roger, Fred R. Cagle, Coleman J. Goin, Charles H. Lowe, Wilfred T. Neill, M. Graham Netting, Karl P. Schmidt, Charles E. Shaw, Robert C. Stebbins, and Charles M. Bogert. 1956. Common names for North American amphibians and reptiles. Copeia 1956(3):172-185);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
Amphibian Species of the World
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1936 King, Willis. A new salamander (Desmognathus) from the southern Appalachians. Herpetologica 1:57-60, 1 plate
1939 Green, N. Bayard. The pygmy salamander, Desmognatus wrighti King, on White Top Mountain, Virginia. Copeia 1939(1):49
1969 Tilley, Stephen G. and J. R. Harrison. Notes on the distribution of the pygmy salamander, Desmognathus wrighti King. Herpetologica 25(3):178-180
1977 Bruce, Richard C. They Pygmy Salamander, Desmognathus wrighti (Amphibia, Urodela, Plethodontidae), in the Cowee Mountains, North Carolina. Journal of Herpetology 11(2):246-247
1993 Arnold, Steven J., Nancy L. Reagan, and Paul A. Verrell. Reproductive isolation and speciation in plethodontid salamanders. Herpetologica 49(2):216-228
1996 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
2000 Harrison, Julian R., III Desmognathus wrighti Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (704):1-7
2006 Kozak, Kenneth H. and John J. Wiens. Does niche conservatism promote speciation? A case study in North American salamanders. Evolution 60(12):2604-2621
2010 Kozak, Kenneth H. and John J. Wiens. Accelerated rates of climatic-niche evolution underlie rapid species diversification. Ecology Letters 13:1378-1389

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 21 April 2025 12:21 CT