In 2003, herpetologists Jennifer A. Anderson and Stephen G. Tilley discovered a brand new species of salamander in Tennessee.
The Cumberland Dusky Salamander is a species of lungless salamander in the Plethodontidae family, which is found exclusively in the Cumberland Plateau of eastern Tennessee.
The discovery was made by herpetologists Jennifer A. Anderson and Stephen G. Tilley of Smith Collegein Massachusetts, who published their findings in the fall 2003 issue of Herpetological Monographs in an article entitled “Systematics of the Desmognathus ochrophaeus Complex in the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee.”
Anderson and Tilley decided that this new species’ scientific designation should be Desmognathus Abditus. The word abditus is Latin for concealed. The pair chose the name because the salamander has remained hidden for so long.
Sadly this species has made the ICUN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species.
