On the Validity of the Name teyahalee as Applied to a Member 



of the Plethodon glutinosus Complex 



(Caudata: Plethodontidae): A New Name 



Nelson G. Hairston, Sr. 



Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, 



Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280 



ABSTRACT — The name Plethodon teyahalee (Hairston) cannot be 

 applied to the member of the P. glutinosus complex as designated 

 by Highton (1983). Biochemical data show that the population from 

 which the type of teyahelee was taken consists of hybrids between 

 local populations representing the P. jordani and P. glutinosus com- 

 plexes, and thus cannot be applied to a member of either of those 

 two species under Article 23(h) of the International Code of Zoo- 

 logical Nomenclature (1985). A new name, Plethodon oconaluftee, 

 is proposed, and a new type is designated. 



Plethodon glutinosus, a salamander distributed widely over the 

 eastern United States, has recently been divided into 16 species on 

 the basis of allozyme frequencies (Highton 1983, 1989). Most of 

 these forms occupy non-overlapping distributions, and it is not known 

 at present whether they are allopatric or parapatric. The form that is 

 distributed west of the French Broad River throughout southwestern 

 North Carolina and immediately adjacent parts of Tennessee, Georgia, 

 and South Carolina is one of the few that overlaps any adjoining 

 species of the complex without hybridization. In extreme southeastern 

 Tennessee and extreme southwestern North Carolina, it overlaps P. 

 aureolus and P. glutinosus (sensu stricto). Highton (loc. cit.) has 

 appropriated the name teyahalee for this representative of the glutinosus 

 complex. 



In 1950 I described a form from Teyahalee Bald in the Snowbird 

 Mountains of southwestern North Carolina as P. jordani teyahalee, 

 believing it to be closely related to other subspecies of P. jordani 

 (Hairston 1950). The presence of red spots on the legs of some 

 individuals indicated the population's relationship to P. j. shermani 

 of the Nantahala Mountains, and the greenish-yellow spots on the 

 sides appeared to make it unique. Subsequent collectors have failed 

 to find any specimens with the greenish-yellow spots, and Highton 

 (1962), in a review of the genus, argued that they could be explained 

 as follows: "Sometimes the lateral pigment of large specimens (of 

 glutinosus) is more yellowish than in small ones, but structurally the 

 pigment appears the same." He did not comment on the detailed 

 differences between the white spots of P. glutinosus and those of 



Brimleyana 18:65-69, June 1993 65 



