A nomenclatural and taxonomic review of the salamanders (Urodela) from Holbrook’s North American Herpetology Author Pyron, R. Alexander 0000-0003-2524-1794 Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, 2023 G St. NW, Washington, DC 20052 rpyron @ colubroid. org; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 2524 - 1794 & Division of Amphibians and Reptiles, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560 rpyron@colubroid.org Author Beamer, David A. Department of Natural Sciences, Nash Community College, Rocky Mount, NC 27804 text Zootaxa 2022 2022-05-10 5134 2 151 196 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.5134.2.1 1175-5326 6534805 3C3F497E-7B50-4E49-8983-D773581F18FD Salamandra symmetrica Harlan, 1825c [ = Triturus (Diemictylus) viridescens Rafinesque, 1820 ] Holbrook (1838a:59 , pl. 11) next gave an account for another of Harlan’s species with an illustration by J. Sera, which is clearly describing the red eft stage of the Eastern Newt ( Notophthalmus viridescens ). In Holbrook’s time, efts were thought to be a distinct species or even a separate genus. Holbrook (1842e:57 , pl. 17) reprinted the account nearly verbatim, with a slightly expanded description and a new plate from J. H. Richard. Baird (1850) designated this name a junior subjective synonym of Triturus (Notophthalmus) miniatus Rafinesque, 1820 , as he continued to speculate that efts and newts were distinct taxa. Hallowell (1858) first suggested that the names viridescens , miniatus , symmetrica , and dorsalis all likely applied to varying forms of the same species. Holbrook did not mention Rafinesque’s miniatus . Holbrook (1838a , 1842e ) also noted that previous authors (e.g., Say 1819 ) had confused Salamandra symmetrica Harlan, 1825c (the red eft stage of the Eastern Newt) with Catesby (1747) ’s “stellio” ( Ambystoma maculatum ), until Harlan (1825c) . Catesby had figured and described an animal he named “ Stellio aquaticus minor Americanus ” and called “ The Spotted Eft.” Catesby’s description and illustration clearly refer to the Spotted Salamander (see account below). However, his use of the term “eft” and a strong reddish coloration in some editions of his plates seem to have misled some early workers into believing the account represented newts. Curiously, Holbrook (1838a , 1842e ) attributed the putative synonym “ Salamandra stellio ” to Say (1819) , which was repeated by later authors such as De Kay (1842) . However, no such name appears in Say (1819) , or any other publication that we can determine. Rather, Say explicitly referred to resurrecting “ Salamandra punctata, Gmel. ”—which he notes was based on Catesby (1747) ’s “stelio”— for the eft. This is Gmelin (1789:1076) ’s account of Lacerta punctata Linnaeus 1767:370 [= Ambystoma maculatum ], which Say misidentified as an eft. Say also erroneously allocated L. maculata Shaw, 1802 [= Ambystoma maculatum ] to efts. Say instead knew the Spotted Salamander as L. subviolacea Barton, 1804 . Therefore, despite Holbrook’s error of attribution and its later repetition by other authors, there does not seem to be any available name “ Salamandra stellio .” Catesby (1747) ’s illustration and description and Say (1819) ’s comments are involved in a long and complex tangle of names related to both Notophthalmus viridescens and Ambystoma maculatum (see below).