“This raises the question of how ‘cryptic’ they ultimately are.” “We tracked down the original specimens at museums in Philadelphia and Paris and found that they belonged to a totally separate species.” “In fact, the name ‘ quadramaculatus,’ which was used for over 120 years, is not the correct name for any of these five species.” “After looking at multiple specimens, we see obvious and substantial phenotypic variation between most lineages,” Professor Pyron said. The authors noticed that certain morphological, genetic and geographic aspects differed among the specimens of Desmognathus quadramaculatus, including variation in size, shape and color pattern.Īfter sequencing the genome from Desmognathus quadramaculatus, they discovered five separate species, three of which are new to science: Desmognathus gvnigeusgwotli, Desmognathus kanawha, and Desmognathus mavrokoilius. “It wasn’t until our NSF-funded research in 2020 that we were able to sequence genome-scale data to figure out there were actually five similar-looking species.” “In 2002, a cryptic dwarf species was discovered, and, in 2005, DNA evidence began to suggest there were still more.” ![]() “Black-bellied salamanders have been commonly studied for over 100 years,” Professor Pyron said. While the former was well known to scientists, the latter was poorly characterized and subsequently found to consist of two distantly related groups of several genetic lineages. Beamer revised the taxonomy of the black-bellied salamanders Desmognathus folkertsi and Desmognathus quadramaculatus from the southern Appalachian Mountains. In their new research, Professor Pyron and Dr. Image credit: Todd Pierson, Kennesaw State University. Orrell T.Desmognathus gvnigeusgwotli in life, from Straight Fork, Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina.
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