Taricha split

[will_j]

first off, apologies if this has been posted elsewhere.

I've just noticed on Amphibiaweb, Taricha torosa sierrae has been raised to species level. Anyone know where the article is, or any further information.

 

[i_love_necturus]

Thats interesting, These are the only articles I could find. They were on CNAH. Im not sure why it is that way on Amphibiaweb though I would like to know also.

>Collins, Joseph T. (1991 Viewpoint: A new taxonomic arrangement for some North American amphibians and reptiles. Herpetological Review. 22(2): pp. 42-43), using the Evolutionary Species Concept, considered this previously defined and diagnosed allopatric taxon a distinct species, a more conservative arrangement than recognizing it as a race of Taricha torosa with which it does not intergrade nor exchange genes.

>Kuchta, S. R. and A. M. Tan (2006 Lineage diversification on an evolving landscape: phylogeography of the California Newt, Taricha torosa (Caudata: Salamandridae) . Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society. 89: pp. 213-239), using mtDNA, demonstrated that this race is a distinct species, but withheld formal recognition of this status pending additional study.

 

[skuchta]

Taricha sierrae

Taricha sierrae was formally recognized (again) in:

Kuchta, S. R. 2007. Contact zones and species limits: Hybridization between lineages of the California newt, Taricha torosa, in the southern Sierra Nevada. Herpetologica 63(3):332-350.

Note that the range of T. sierrae is different from Collins (1991). This follows from the study of Kuchta and Tan (2006), noted above, which showed that the newts in the southern Sierra Nevada are mostly closely related to newts along coastal California.

You can get both of these papers by typing "Shawn R. Kuchta" in google and going to his home page.

Cheers!