Triton niger

Triton niger (Green, 1818)

[= S. fusca Green, 1818]

Holbrook (1842e:81, pl. 27) gave a brief account of Green’s species with an illustration by J. Queen, precipitating an excruciatingly complicated series of events that have already been detailed here (see account for Salamandra maculo-quadrata) and elsewhere (Pyron and Beamer 2020). In brief, Holbrook collected specimens of Black-bellied Salamander ( Desmognathus sp. “ quadramaculatus ”) in Georgia and Carolina and was sent specimens of D. conanti or D. valentinei from Louisiana. Based on these, he expanded the definition of Green’s name to include populations of multiple species ranging from Massachusetts to Louisiana: “This animal inhabits the Atlantic states from lat. 43° to the Gulf of Mexico.” He also included S. intermixta Green, 1825b and S. picta Harlan, 1825d in synonymy, both of which are junior subjective synonyms of S. fusca Green, 1818 . Two of Holbrook’s specimens in Paris (MHNH-RA 0.4677 & 2012.464) may have originally been allocated to this taxon, but likely post-date publication of North American Herpetology. Upon examining one of Holbrook’s specimens (ANSP 14001), Baird (1850) informally restricted this name to Black-bellied Salamanders, a precedent that was followed by most authors. Subsequently and with little stated justification, Stejneger (1903) instead resurrected D. quadrimaculatus for these populations. Curiously, Stejneger continued to recognize D. niger, but did not elaborate on his concept of that taxon.

Both Salamandra nigra Green, 1818 and S. maculo-quadrata Holbrook, 1840 are also junior subjective synonyms of S. fusca Green, 1818, and no valid name has ever been applied to Black-bellied Salamanders (themselves a polyphyletic cryptic species complex) at the species level. Regardless, Holbrook deserves credit for first collecting and describing this group, and two of his specimens (ANSP 14001 and MCZ A-183) are known to be extant in collections. One of these (likely ANSP 14001) is probably the specimen illustrated in pl. 27 (Fig. 10). In contrast, MCZ A-183 was donated to MCZ by Agassiz in 1854. A handwritten note from Barbour in the bottle notes that it was probably given to Agassiz by Holbrook. This must have occurred after the publication of North American Herpetology during the former’s visits to the latter in Charleston, which started in 1847 after Agassiz’s arrival in the US (Anderson 2014). Neither specimen is in good condition, although ANSP 14001 is severely degraded and was reported lost at one point (E. V. Malnate pers. comm. to Adler 1976). Regardless, both are confidently referred to Black-bellied Salamanders, though their actual collection data are unknown, and both bear erroneous localities: ANSP 14001 “Penns.” and MCZ A-183 “Charleston, S.C.” Consequently, it is unclear to which of the numerous candidate species either specimen belongs. This ambiguity has fortunately little nomenclatural relevance given our actions regarding the nomenclature of S. nigra and S. maculo-quadrata (see above).