Salamandra symmetrica Harlan, 1825c

Pyron, R. Alexander & Beamer, David A., 2022, A nomenclatural and taxonomic review of the salamanders (Urodela) from Holbrook’s North American Herpetology, Zootaxa 5134 (2), pp. 151-196 : 154

Salamandra symmetrica Harlan, 1825c

[= Triturus (Diemictylus) viridescens Rafinesque, 1820 ]

Holbrook (1838a:59, pl. 11) next gave an account for another of Harlan’s species with an illustration by J. Sera, which is clearly describing the red eft stage of the Eastern Newt ( Notophthalmus viridescens ). In Holbrook’s time, efts were thought to be a distinct species or even a separate genus. Holbrook (1842e:57, pl. 17) reprinted the account nearly verbatim, with a slightly expanded description and a new plate from J. H. Richard. Baird (1850) designated this name a junior subjective synonym of Triturus (Notophthalmus) miniatus Rafinesque, 1820 , as he continued to speculate that efts and newts were distinct taxa. Hallowell (1858) first suggested that the names viridescens , miniatus , symmetrica , and dorsalis all likely applied to varying forms of the same species. Holbrook did not mention Rafinesque’s miniatus .

Holbrook (1838a, 1842e) also noted that previous authors (e.g., Say 1819) had confused Salamandra symmetrica Harlan, 1825c (the red eft stage of the Eastern Newt) with Catesby (1747) ’s “stellio” ( Ambystoma maculatum ), until Harlan (1825c). Catesby had figured and described an animal he named “ Stellio aquaticus minor Americanus ” and called “ The Spotted Eft.” Catesby’s description and illustration clearly refer to the Spotted Salamander (see account below). However, his use of the term “eft” and a strong reddish coloration in some editions of his plates seem to have misled some early workers into believing the account represented newts.

Curiously, Holbrook (1838a, 1842e) attributed the putative synonym “ Salamandra stellio ” to Say (1819), which was repeated by later authors such as De Kay (1842). However, no such name appears in Say (1819), or any other publication that we can determine. Rather, Say explicitly referred to resurrecting “ Salamandra punctata, Gmel. ”—which he notes was based on Catesby (1747) ’s “stelio”— for the eft. This is Gmelin (1789:1076) ’s account of Lacerta punctata Linnaeus 1767:370 [= Ambystoma maculatum ], which Say misidentified as an eft. Say also erroneously allocated L. maculata Shaw, 1802 [= Ambystoma maculatum ] to efts. Say instead knew the Spotted Salamander as L. subviolacea Barton, 1804 . Therefore, despite Holbrook’s error of attribution and its later repetition by other authors, there does not seem to be any available name “ Salamandra stellio .” Catesby (1747) ’s illustration and description and Say (1819) ’s comments are involved in a long and complex tangle of names related to both Notophthalmus viridescens and Ambystoma maculatum (see below).