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Amphibia    Caudata    Salamandridae  
Black-Spotted Newt
Notophthalmus meridionalis (Cope, 1880)
NOH-toh-THAL-mus — meh-rid-ee-oh-NAL-iss
Taxon Links
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Amphibian Species of the World
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
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GenBank
USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

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Open icons indicate questionable records, including those with coordinate uncertainty greater than 10,000 m (approximately 6 miles). Click a marker to view metadata.
Occurrences:; 559 Total; 515 Museum; 44 Other

The locality database contains 8,248,810 records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Logged-in, registered users may report a potential issue directly from the marker popup.
Shaded range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH. (Version: 2025.03.28.13.34.51)
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its geographic distribution.
Notophthalmus — From Greek nōton (νῶτον), meaning “back,” and ophthalmos (ὀφθαλμός), meaning “eye,” likely referring to the conspicuous dorsal spots (especially the red "eye-spots") seen in the eft stage.
meridionalis — Latin for “southern,” from meridies (midday or south), indicating the species’ range in the southern United States and northeastern Mexico.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Texas Triton (Diemyctylus miniatus meridionalis: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Southern Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis: Strecker, John K., Jr. 1922. An annotated catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Bexar County, Texas. Bulletin Scientific Society of San Antonio 4(4):1-31); Black-spotted Newt (Diemictylus meridionalis: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);


Selected References:
1880 Cope, Edward D. On the zoological position of Texas. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 17(17):1-51
1968 Mecham, John S. Notophthalamus meridionalis.. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (74):1-2
1968 Mecham, John S. On the relationships between Notophthalmus meridionalis and Notophthalmus kallerti. Journal of Herpetology 2(3-4):121-127
1990 Reilly, Stephen M. Biochemical systematics and evolution of the eastern North American newts, genus Notophthalmus (Caudata: Salamandridae). Herpetologica 46(1):51-59
1997 Taggart, Travis W. Geographic Distribution: Notophthalmus meridionalis (black-spotted newt). Herpetological Review 28(1):47
2018 Bare, Evan. Regional distribution, non-invasive detection, and genetic diversity of the Black-Spotted Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis). Thesis. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, Texas. 1-95pp.

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