| King Pygmy salamander | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Urodela |
| Family: | Plethodontidae |
| Subfamily: | Plethodontinae |
| Genus: | Desmognathus |
| Species: | D. wrighti
|
| Binomial name | |
| Desmognathus wrighti King, 1936
| |
The pygmy salamander (Desmognathus wrighti) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the United States in the southern Appalachians in North Carolina and Tennessee.[2] Desmognathus wrighti is a member of the family Plethodontidae and is commonly known as the pygmy salamander. As the name suggest the pygmy salamander is the smallest of the nineteen species in the genus Desmognathus. D. wrighti undergoes direct development and does not have a free-living larval stage. Only two other taxa in Desmognathus, D. aeneus and D. organi, exhibit direct development along with the pygmy salamander.[3] In the genus Desmognathus, body size, habitat preferences, and patterns used by males during courtship are quite variable. D. wrighti courtship is noted by the male biting and seizing its partner in order to provide them with a chemical stimulus.[4] The pygmy salamander can be found in the southern Appalachians of the United States in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Geographical distribution of the Desmognathus wrighti is fragmented and the highest abundance of the species can be found at high elevations in spruce and fir tree forest.[5]
- ^ Geoffrey Hammerson (2004). "Desmognathus wrighti". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2004: e.T59259A11907504. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T59259A11907504.en. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- ^ Frost, Darrel R. (2015). "Desmognathus wrighti King, 1936". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ^ Hining, K. J. and R. C. Bruce. 2005. Population structure and life history attributes of syntopic populations of the salamanders Desmognathus aeneus and Desmognathus wrighti (Amphibia: Plethodontidae). Southeastern Naturalist, 4(4): 679-688
- ^ Verrel, P. 1999. Bracketing the extremes: courtship behaviour of the smallest- and largest-bodied species in the salamander genus Desmognathus (Plethodontidae: Desmognathinae). Journal of Zoology, 247: 105-111.
- ^ Crespi, E. J., R. A. Robert, and L. J. Rissler. 2010. Taxonomic Revision of Desmognathus wrighti (Caudata: Plethodontidae). Herpetologica, 66(3): 283-295.