Menobranchus maculatus

Menobranchus maculatus “ Barnes, 1827 ”

[= Sirena maculosa Rafinesque, 1818]

In the final salamander account and penultimate species entry in North American Herpetology, Holbrook (1842e:115, pl. 38) offered a detailed account of the Mudpuppy, Necturus maculosus . Holbrook attributed this name to Barnes (1827), who was merely reiterating early uses of the subsequent misspelling Necturus maculatus Rafinesque, 1819 . As noted above, this species has a complex nomenclatural history (Waite 1907), and Holbrook considered the juveniles to represent a distinct species (see account for Menobranchus lateralis). The elaborate and detailed plate was not produced by any of Holbrook’s usual hired illustrators, but by “the Right Reverend J. H. Hopkins, Bishop of Vermont ” (see Stephens 1997). Holbrook noted that he had never seen this species alive, which includes his “ M. lateralis ” as well. This account contains a great deal of verbiage originally included in Holbrook’s (1838b) account of “ M. lateralis ” (see above) but transferred here as his concept of the taxon shifted.