San Marcos salamander

The San Marcos salamander (Eurycea nana) is a small species of aquatic, lungless salamander native to the United States, endemic to Spring Lake and a small region of the headwaters of the San Marcos River near Aquarena Springs, in Hays County, Texas. It is one to two inches long, with a slender body and external gills, and is a reddish-brown in color.

Downstream from the headwaters of the San Marcos Springs, Aquarena Springs, and Spring Lake

San Marcos salamander
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Plethodontidae
Genus: Eurycea
Species:
E. nana
Binomial name
Eurycea nana
Bishop, 1941

Conservation status

The San Marcos salamander has been federally listed as a threatened species since 1980. Due to its extremely limited geographic range, it is threatened by a number of things, but primarily from the contamination of ground water sources and heavy dependence of central Texas cities upon the Edwards Aquifer for water.

References
  • Chippindale, P.T., A.H. Price, Wiens, J.J. & Hillis, D.M. (2000): Phylogenetic relationships of central Texas hemidactyliine plethodontid salamanders, genus Eurycea, and a taxonomic revision of the group. Herpetological Monographs 14: 1-80.
  • Hillis, D.M., Chamberlain, D.A., Wilcox, T.P., & Chippindale, P.T. (2001): A new species of subterranean blind salamander (Plethodontidae: Hemidactyliini: Eurycea: Typhlomolge) from Austin, Texas, and a systematic revision of central Texas paedomorphic salamanders. Herpetologica 57: 266–280.


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