A New Species of Woodland Salamander 



of the Plethodon glutinosus Group 

 from the Southern Appalachian Mountains 



Richard Highton 



Department of Zoology, 

 University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 



ABSTRACT. — A new species of woodland salamander, Plethodon 

 aureolus, occurs between the Little Tennessee and Hiwassee rivers on 

 the western slopes of the Unicoi Mountains and nearby lowlands in 

 southeastern Tennessee and adjacent North Carolina. It is a small- 

 sized member of the P. glutinosus group and was discovered by a study 

 of electrophoretic variation in 22 genetic loci. It is sympatric with the 

 white-spotted form of P. glutinosus (here recognized as a distinct spe- 

 cies, P. teyahalee) at 28 localities, and at one of these it is also sympat- 

 ric with typical brassy-spotted P. glutinosus. Plethodon aureolus 

 hybridizes with Unicoi Mountain P. Jordani on Sassafras Ridge, but 

 there is no evidence of significant hybridization between P. aureolus 

 and P. teyahalee or P. glutinosus. 



Two unpublished electrophoretic studies of geographic genetic 

 variation in eastern woodland salamanders of the Plethodon glutinosus 

 group, one by Peabody (1978) and the other in preparation by Highton, 

 have revealed the existence of an undescribed species of the group. Its 

 range appears to be largely restricted to the western slopes of the Unicoi 

 Mountains and adjacent lowlands, between the Little Tennessee and 

 Hiwassee rivers, in Monroe and northern Polk counties, Tennessee, and 

 adjacent Graham and Cherokee counties, North Carolina. 



Highton (1970) called attention to the presence of three distinct 

 geographically parapatric color pattern variants of P. glutinosus in the 

 southern Appalachian Mountain region: (1) populations in the moun- 

 tains of western North Carolina are characterized by having small dor- 

 sal white spots; (2) in populations from northeastern Georgia many 

 individuals lack dorsal spotting; and (3) populations to the west and 

 south of the above areas are characterized by having brassy-colored 

 dorsal spots. Highton (1972) mapped the distribution of three parapat- 

 ric dorsal pattern variants of P. glutinosus in Pennsylvania, Maryland, 

 Virginia and West Virginia. Two of these resemble the first and the 

 third southern Appalachian types in the color of their dorsal spots, 

 while a third, smaller. Coastal Plain variant is characterized by its very 

 small dorsal brassy-colored spots. I suggested that there may be limited 

 gene exchange between some of these parapatric forms and some pairs 

 may be at or close to the species level of evolutionary divergence. Our 

 unpublished genetic studies have shown that hybridization often occurs 



Brimleyana No.9:l-20. June 1983. 



