MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION AMONG SPECIES AND POPULATIONS OF SALAMANDERS IN THE PLETHODON GLUTINOSUS COMPLEX

Multivariate analyses using 10 morphological characters measured on sp ecimens from 26 populations representing 14 species within the Plethod on glutinosus complex and two other species of eastern large Plethodon revealed significant among-species variation. Variation in overall bo dy size explained 75.2% of the morphological variation observed in thi s study, but there were also differences in shape and proportion. Spec ies within the complex formed two major morphological groups: a group of small bodied species the geographic ranges of which lie primarily w ithin the Coastal Plain physiographic province and a group of large bo died species the ranges of which lie outside the Coastal Plain. Pletho don aureolus, a species from the Unicoi Mountains in Tennessee that cl ustered with the Coastal Plain group, was the sole exception to this p attern. Plethodon kentucki, a species from the Cumberland Plateau, did not cluster with either group. Nets genetic distance determined from an extensive allozyme survey of the complex and Mahalanobis distances calculated from morphological data were significantly correlated, but morphological variation appeared to be influenced more by physiographi c province than by genetic similarity. Morphological variation among p opulations within species is similar in scale to variation among speci es.