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New Tylototriton species

froggy

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The description of a new 'black' Tylototriton was published today. The new species is from Vietnam and is called Tylototriton ziegleri.

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It is different both morphologically and genetically and the paper also presents molecular data on the whole genus.

I will leave it to more qualified members (*cough* Frogeyes *cough*) to comment further on it!

C
 

freves

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Thank you for the information. I wish that the link would have included a pic but still very cool!
Chip
 

FrogEyes

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Scooped!

You know, I have a list of about 50 journals I check more or less daily, including Current Herpetology, and including papers in press, and while I knew an issue of this journal was coming, I didn't check it yesterday! My need to go into Minneapolis and download papers is intensifying. :S Thanks for the update, I'll return when I have more information, although it appears this one is another of the previously identified "cf" clades.

At a glance, it's good to see that most Yaotriton were included in this study, with the exception of T.broadoridgus [sister to T.wenxianensis] and T.dabienicus [currently treated as a subspecies of T.wenxianensis]. It looks as if they also cite a phylogeny paper which is not on my source list [but the abstract looks familiar, so I might have missed cataloguing it]. In any case, the latter is open access here:
http://www.zootax.com.cn/viewmulu_en.aspx?qi_id=749&mid=20203

Gu, X.-M., Chen, R-R., Wang, H., Tian, Y.-Z., Chen, G.-Z., and Tian, D. 2012. Phylogenetic relationships of subgenus Yaotriton (Caudata, Salamandridae, Tylototriton) based on partial mitochondrial DNA gene sequences.Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 37: 20–28.
 

FrogEyes

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This species has been previously refered to as Tylototriton asperrimus, T.hainanensis, T.cf.asperrimus, T.cf.hainanensis, or T.cf.vietnamensis, from Ha Giang and Cao Bang provinces, Vietnam. Without checking my locality data, I think that both T.ziegleri and T.vietnamensis occur in Cao Bang, a province which encompasses multiple mountain ranges.

This is probably T.ziegleri:
science . naturalis - asperrimus
This LOOKS like T.asperrimus, but may also be T.ziegleri:
CalPhotos
This is labeled as T.ziegleri:
Phát hi
Probable, apparently from Xuanson NP:
Welcome to Viet Nam Creatures Website
 

FrogEyes

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I was able to obtain a B&W print of this paper from my local library in MN. Contrary to the initial post, and also contrary to what I could get from the abstract, all named taxa of subgenus Yaotriton were included for the first time, but not all members of genus Tylototriton. This includes confirmation of species status for T.notialis as well as a [known] range extension to Vietnam. T.hainanensis is not yet confirmed outside of Hainan, but the species list for Vietnam now includes T.notialis, T.ziegleri, T.asperrimus, and T.vietnamensis. Subgenus Tylototriton likely also occurs in Vietnam (probably more than one species) but requires confirmation. While no status change is proposed, the differences between dabienicus and wenxianensis are similar to those between other full species, and I continue to treat these two as species. Because of the very few species and localitites of subgenus Tylototriton included, it's not clear whether the three species included are accurately identified.

All members of the subgenus are distinguished by morphological traits. Among those for T.ziegleri are well-developed cranial ridges, which are unique for the subgenus. The skin is roughest, the ridge most tubercular and segmented, and rib nodules most distinct within the subgenus. Coloration is mainly unreliable as a distinguishing trait.

Taxa included:
T.asperrimus
T.broadoridgus
T.dabienicus
T.hainanensis
T.lizhenchangi
T.notialis
T.vietnamensis
T.wenxianensis

No additional unnamed species are included, which does not preclude their existence.

Diagnosis, quoted in full from the paper:
A medium-sized newt of the genus Tylototriton, SVL 54.4-68.3 mm in males and 70.8mm in the female; skin rough in fine granules; bony ridges on head distinct; vertebral ridge prominent and segmented, forming a row of tubercles; rib nodules prominent; limbs long and thin; tips of forelimbs and hindlimbs greatly overlapping when adpressed along body; tail thin; dorsum uniform dark brown or blackish; rib nodules, finger and toe tips, parts of soles and palms, and vent continuing to ventral ridge of tail bright orange.
 
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