Eurycea troglodytes Baker, 1957

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

Eurycea troglodytes Baker, 1957, Texas J. Sci., 9: 328. Holotype: TNHC 21791, by original designation. Type locality: "a pool approximately 600 feet from the entrance of the Valdina Farms Sinkhole, Valdina Farms, Medina County, Texas", USA.

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

Eurycea (Blepsimolge) troglodytesRaffaëlli, 2007, Les Urodèles du Monde: 180; Devitt, Wright, Cannatella, and Hillis, 2019, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 116: 2624–2633. 

Eurycea (Notiomolge) troglodytesDubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 77-161.

Eurycea (Typhlomolge) troglodytesFouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 147. 

English Names

Valdina Farms Salamander (Conant, 1958, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. Cent. N. Am.: 251; Conant, 1975, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. Cent. N. Am., Ed. 2: 294; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 6; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 23; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 13; 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).

Distribution

Known from east of the Nueces River, in the eastern Nueces Headwaters, Frio, Hondo, and Upper West Medina watersheds of eastern Edwards, Real, Bandera, and northern Uvalde counties of Texas, USA; two unnamed associates (see comment) from (1) headwaters of the Guadalupe, upper North Medina, and Pedernales River watersheds in Kerr, southwestern Gillespie, and northern Bandera Counties, Texas, USA, and (2) From west of the Nueces River, in the Nueces Headwaters, West Nueces, Elm-Sycamore, and Lower Devils sub-basins in central to southern Val Verde, southern Edwards and northern Kinney Counties of 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

Removed from the synonymy of Eurycea neotenes by Chippindale, 2000, in Bruce et al., Biol. Plethodontid Salamanders: 161, where it had been placed by Sweet, 1984, Copeia, 1984: 438, who regarded the holotype as a hybrid. Chippindale, 2000, in Bruce et al., Biol. Plethodontid Salamanders, and Chippindale, Price, Wiens, and Hillis, 2000, Herpetol. Monogr., 14: 1–80, noted that a number of other closely related populations found throughout the southeastern section of the Balcones Escarpment might be named as species in the future. Literature of Eurycea troglodytes reviewed by Baker, 1966, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 23: 1–2. Chippindale, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 766–767,  provided a detailed account that summarized the biology and conservation literature.  Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 240, provided a brief account, photograph, and map. Bonett, Steffen, Lambert, Wiens, and Chippindale, 2014 "2013", Evolution, 68: 473, provided a molecular tree that implies support for nearby populations being unnamed species. Altig and McDiarmid, 2015, Handb. Larval Amph. US and Canada: 110–111, 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 nominal species and delimited two unnamed lineages. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 533–535, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map).

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