[Image: digital art of a brown salamander with bright orange “ear mark” coloration by its eye, light spots along its side, and faint orange-brown coloration along its back. End ID]
A new salamander species has been documented in the southeast US!
In a study published this month (May 2022) researchers demonstrate that the Pascagoula dusky salamander (Desmognathus pascagoula) is “morphologically, genetically, and geographically distinct” from other Desmognathus species.
The Pascagoula dusky salamander is found in swampy regions of southwestern Alabama and southeastern Mississippi. As stated in the abstract, “This discovery increases knowledge of the biodiversity in the southeastern United States Coastal Plain, a candidate region meeting the global criteria for a “biodiversity hotspot,” and underscores the amount of cryptic diversity likely remaining to be discovered and described in Nearctic salamanders.“
A new, narrowly endemic species of swamp-dwelling dusky salamander (Plethodontidae: Desmognathus) from the Gulf Coastal Plain of Mississippi and Alabama
CCAS professor helps discover new species of salamander near Gulf Coastal Plain | GW Hatchet
Pascagoula Dusky Salamander | MS Herps