''Paramesotriton'', also known as warty newts or Asian warty newts, is a genus of

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

s in the family

Salamandridae Salamandridae is a Family (biology), family of salamanders consisting of true salamanders and newts. Salamandrids are distinguished from other salamanders by the lack of rib or costal grooves along the sides of their bodies and by their rough ski ...

. The genus is found in southwestern and southern China and in northern Vietnam. Most of the species are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to China, and the majority of them have been described recently, since 2008. The genus includes both pond and stream dwellers.

Taxonomy and systematics

The

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

of ''Paramesotriton'' is '' Laotriton''. The genus may be divided into two species groups (

subgenera In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

), ''Paramesotriton'' and ''Allomesotriton''.

Description

''Paramesotriton'' have a dark brown dorsum with a prominent vertebral ridge, often also a pair of lateral ridges. The tail is high and laterally compressed. Skin texture varies from relatively smooth to very rough. '' Paramesotriton hongkongensis'' has toxic skin and ova, as has been shown for many other salamanders.

Species

''Paramesotriton'' contains the following 14 species: * ''

Paramesotriton aurantius ''Paramesotriton'', also known as warty newts or Asian warty newts, is a genus of salamanders in the family Salamandridae. The genus is found in southwestern and southern China and in northern Vietnam. Most of the species are endemic to China, an ...

'' Yuan, Wu, Zhou, and Che, 2016 * '' Paramesotriton caudopunctatus'' (Liu and Hu, 1973) — spot-tailed warty newt * '' Paramesotriton chinensis'' (Gray, 1859) — Chinese warty newt * '' Paramesotriton deloustali'' (Bourret, 1934) — Tam Dao salamander, Vietnamese salamander * '' Paramesotriton fuzhongensis'' Wen, 1989 — Wanggao warty newt * '' Paramesotriton guangxiensis'' (Huang, Tang, and Tang, 1983) — Guangxi warty newt * '' Paramesotriton hongkongensis'' (Myers and Leviton, 1962) — Hong Kong warty newt, Hong Kong newt * '' Paramesotriton labiatus'' (Unterstein, 1930) * '' Paramesotriton longliensis'' Li, Tian, Gu, and Xiong, 2008 * '' Paramesotriton maolanensis'' Gu, Chen, Tian, Li, and Ran, 2012 * '' Paramesotriton qixilingensis'' Yan, Zhao, Jiang, Hou, He, Murphy, and Che, 2014 * '' Paramesotriton wulingensis'' Wang, Tian, and Gu, 2013 * '' Paramesotriton yunwuensis'' Wu, Jiang, and Hanken, 2010 * '' Paramesotriton zhijinensis'' Li, Tian, and Gu, 2008 — Zhijin warty newt

Intrinsic Phylogeny

Intrinsic phylogeny tree of genus ''Paramesotriton.''

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2468331 Amphibian genera Amphibians of Asia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot