Eurycea rathbuni (Stejneger, 1896)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Plethodontidae > Subfamily: Hemidactyliinae > Genus: Eurycea > Species: Eurycea rathbuni

Typhlomolge rathbuni Stejneger, 1896, Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus., 18: 620. Holotype: USNM 22686, by original designation. Type locality: "Subterranean waters near San Marcos, [Hays County,] Texas", USA; corrected to "Texas: San Marcos, U.S. Fish Commission Well 42" by Dunn, 1926, Salamanders Fam. Plethodontidae: 257. Given as "Artesian well 188 feet deep, at U.S. Fish Commission Station, San Marcos, Hays Co., Texas", USA by Stejneger and Barbour, 1933, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 3: 15.

Eurycea rathbuniMitchell and Reddell, 1965, Texas J. Sci., 17: 23; Mitchell and Smith, 1972, Texas J. Sci., 23: 344; Petranka, 1998, Salamand. U.S. Canada: 273.

Typhlomolge rathbuniWake, 1966, Mem. S. California Acad. Sci., 4: 64–66.

Eurycea (Paedomolge, Notiomolge, Typhlomolge) rathbuniHillis, Chamberlain, Wilcox, and Chippindale, 2001, Herpetologica, 57: 275. See comment under Eurycea.

Eurycea (Typhlomolge) rathbuniRaffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Monde: 181; Devitt, Wright, Cannatella, and Hillis, 2019, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 116: 2624–2633.

English Names

Texas Blind Salamander (Strecker, 1915, Baylor Univ. Bull., 18: 56; Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 357; Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 44; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 176; Conant, 1975, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. Cent. N. Am., Ed. 2: 295; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 9; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 34; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 10; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 23; USFWS; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 12; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 27; Powell, Conant, and Collins, 2016, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. North Am., 4th ed.: 61; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 28).

San Marcos Salamander (Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 357).

White Salamander (Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 357).

Distribution

Known from several caves and wells near the type locality (San Marcos Pool of the Edwards Aquifer, Hays County, Texas, USA).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: United States of America, United States of America - Texas

Endemic: United States of America, United States of America - Texas

Comment

See accounts by Petranka, 1998, Salamand. U.S. Canada: 272–274, Chippindale, 2000, in Bruce et al., Biol. Plethodontid Salamanders: 149–178, and Chippindale, Price, Wiens, and Hillis, 2000, Herpetol. Monogr., 14: 1–80. Chippindale, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 760–762, provided a detailed account that summarized the biology and conservation literature. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 573. Bonett, Steffen, Lambert, Wiens, and Chippindale, 2014 "2013", Evolution, 68: 473, suggested on the basis of a molecular tree that this species is most closely related to Eurycea waterlooensis (Eurycea robusta not included in the analysis). Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 242, provided a brief account, photograph, and map. Altig and McDiarmid, 2015, Handb. Larval Amph. US and Canada: 116–117, provided an account of larval morphology and biology. Devitt, Wright, Cannatella, and Hillis, 2019, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 116: 2624–2633, reported on the phylogenetic relationships and aquifer loyalty of this species. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 536, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). Tighe, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 654: 62–63, briefly discussed the location of paratypes.

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