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Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  
Great Balsams Mountain Dusky Salamander
Desmognathus balsameus Pyron and Beamer, 2022
DEZ-moh-NAY-thus — bal-SAM-ee-us
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SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 New Species. Delimited from D. ocoee by Pyron and Beamer (2022, Zootaxa 5190: 207–240). (Pyron, R. Alexander, Christopher K. Beachy, David A. Beamer, and Kenneth M. Kozak. 2025. Caudata – Salamanders. Pages 10-21 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

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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:; 116 Total; 4 Museum; 112 Other

The locality database contains 8,094,832 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: 2023.08.31.10.12.39)
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Province/State Distribution:

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its montane habitat.
Desmognathus — Greek desmos = “ligament” + gnathos = “jaw”
balsameus — Toponymic, from the Balsam Mountains, North Carolina; Latinized to mean “of the Balsams.”

First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.


Selected References:
1993 Arnold, Steven J., Nancy L. Reagan, and Paul A. Verrell. Reproductive isolation and speciation in plethodontid salamanders. Herpetologica 49(2):216-228
1996 Titus, Tom A. and Allan Larson. Molecular phylogenetics of Desmognathine salamanders (Caudata: Plethodontidae): A reevaluation of evolution in ecology, life history, and morphology. Systematic Biology 45(4):451-472
2010 Kozak, Kenneth H. and John J. Wiens. Accelerated rates of climatic-niche evolution underlie rapid species diversification. Ecology Letter 13:1378-1389
2022 Pyron, R. Alexander and David A. Beamer. Systematics of the Ocoee Salamander (Plethodontidae: Desmognathus ocoee), with description of two new species from the southern Blue Ridge Mountains. Zootaxa (5190):207–240

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