Siredon dumerilii

Siredon dumerilii Dugès, 1870

We found only one specimen in MADUG (HE 315; Fig. 4 C). When Smith & Necker (1943) reported on the type collection they did not find this specimen, which was subsequently reported on by Maldonado Koerdell (1948a, b). Two additional specimens reported by Smith & Necker (1943) had the locality San Juan del Río, Guanajuato (see comment under Bathysiredon dumerilii queretarensis). Maldonado Koerdell (1948b) corrected the locality to San Juan del Río, Querétaro, and described these two specimens as Bathysiredon dumerilii queretarensis (see below). Dunn (1939), mentioned three additional specimens that are considered cotypes (syntypes): ANSP 13862, presented by Dugès to Cope; and USNM 16201–2. None of these was specifically designated by Dugès (1870, 1872) as a type specimen. It is obvious that the description was based on at least one female and one male, but considering the number of specimens now recognized as syntypes, Dugès may have had more than two specimens when he described the species.

There is an additional specimen of this taxon incorrectly labeled as coming from Colima, Mexico (HE 546, Fig. 4 D); the tag is not original, so we conclude it may have been erroneously labeled at a later date. In order to avoid any confusion, we do not assign any type status to this particular specimen.

Examination of the specimen HE 315, mostly coincides with Maldonado Koerdell’s (1948a) description, although the measurements are not exactly the same as those he reported. Our measurements, with Maldonado Koerdell’s in parenthesis, are: total length = 264mm (275), length of head and trunk = 135.5 (140), length of left anterior limb = 47 (45), length of left posterior limb = 46 (51). Also, one of us (OFV) counted 13 costal grooves instead of the 14 reported by Maldonado Koerdell (1948a).

Current valid name: Ambystoma dumerilii (Dugès, 1870) .