New US ambystoma?!?

W

william

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According to the amphibiaweb database, a new Ambystoma species has been discovered/recognised. a google search reveals nothing. It has a range of Alabama, Georgia and Florida so i find it hard to believe that it is a completely new taxa. but what could it be split from?

btw common name is the frosted flatwoods salamander.
 
interesting, I wonder how this will affect the status of both species as cingulatum isn't exactly common. Will it automatically have the same protection as cingulatum? How do the two species differ in patterning?
 
Hi William,

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0045-8511%2819650930%293%3A1965%3A3%3C342%3AOOTGVI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L&size=LARGE#abstract

That was the only thing i could find on the quick. The AMNH says there are no subspecies at all - and if I read the link posted now (or better: the short abstract) I think that this is possibly like with Neurergus strauchii - that there are only regional variations of the pattern and no real subspecies.

The opposite is this Link: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.03149.x?cookieSet=1&journalCode=mec

They have done research and say that there are even two species. To me it seems at moment if they are the ones on which information amphibiaweb split up the two species?
 
That's so cool! A new species. I wonder if it lives in my area of Georgia. It must be Endangered.
 
bishopi appear to live to the west of the Appalachicola (right spelling??) watershed, and cingulatum to the east. So unless you are in the south western corner of the state then unlikely.
 
Do you mean Appalachian Mountains. That is strange. The other two similar species of Flatwoods Salamanders live south of where I live.
 
Sweet I live right along the Chattahoochee. My Dad is a Park Ranger superintendent of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area. I have visited tons of sights along the River. I think it lives in my range according to the map.
 
There are only two ponds left in SW Georgia that Ambystoma bishopi (the "Reticulated Flatwoods Salamander") are known to breed in and it's been several years since larvae were found at either one. They are extirpated from Alabama but seem to be doing reasonably well in a few spots in the western Florida panhandle.

If one of you managed to turn one up near the Chattahooche River, it would be hugely significant.

Here is a male A. cingulatum from the eastern Florida panhandle.
Ambcin3.jpg
 
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