Peaks of Otter salamander
| Peaks Of Otter salamander | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Caudata |
| Family: | Plethodontidae |
| Genus: | Plethodon |
| Species: | P. hubrichti |
| Binomial name | |
|
Plethodon hubrichti Thurow, 1957 |
|
The Peaks of Otter salamander (Plethodon hubrichti) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae, endemic to the Peaks of Otter area in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
The adult Peaks of Otter salamander is characterized by a dark-brown dorsum with heavy brassy flecking down its entire length. The dorsum and sides of P. hubrichti may also be lightly speckled with white, while the venter is not spotted and ranges from light to charcoal grey in color. Males have small mental glands immediately behind the chin. While the Peaks of Otter salamander is superficially similar to the Cheat Mountain salamander (P. nettingi), the two species are differentiated by a higher concentration of metallic flecking on the dorsum of P. hubrichti, and the presence of a usual 19 costal grooves compared to the variable 17-19 costal grooves of P. nettingi. Although Petranka stated that hatchlings have a distinct dorsal stripe consisting of reddish spots, this was never seen in over 100 neonates observed, which have a uniform dark-grey dorsum. Brassy flecks begin to appear when salamanders reach about 25 mm snout-to-vent length.
In the early 1950s, the P. cinereus group of small Plethodon species was made up of only three species: the southern ravine salamander (P. richmondi), the Cheat Mountain salamander (P. nettingi), and the eastern red-backed salamander (P. cinereus). Numerous other members of the genus have since been described, including the Peaks of Otter salamander.
The story of P. hubrichti's naming began in 1949 with a typewriter salesman, Leslie Hubricht, who also collected and studied land snails. Hubricht encountered salamanders in his pursuit of snails because of their similar habitats, and sent any unusual salamanders he found to museums for identification. Some salamanders he had collected in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia were identified as P. nettingi by herpetologist Gordon Thurow. If true, this would have represented a significant range extension for P. nettingi, since this species had been known only from West Virginia. Richard Hoffman and Richard Highton also examined these specimens, and suspected they actually represented a new species or subspecies.
...
Wikipedia