THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Caudata    Ambystomatidae  

Small-mouthed Salamander
Ambystoma texanum (Matthes, 1855)
AM-bis-TOH-mah — tex-ANN-num

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.08.00.23.31)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.59 MB

Province/State Distribution:
Canada: Ontario
United States: Alabama Arkansas Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Michigan Mississippi Missouri Nebraska Ohio Oklahoma Tennessee Texas West Virginia

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for the U.S. state from which it was described.
Ambystoma — Greek amblys = "blunt" + stoma = "mouth"
texanum — Latinized toponym = “from Texas”

First instance(s) of published English names:
Small-mouthed Salamander (Ambystoma microstomum: Jordan, David Starr. 1876. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Jansen, McClurg, and Company, Chicago, Illinois.. 342pp.); Small-mouthed Salamander (Amblystoma microstomum: Jordan, David S. 1878. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Second Edition, Revised, and Enlarged. Jansen, McClurg & Company, Chicago. pp.); Porphyry Salamander (Amblystoma microstomum: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Texas Salamander (Amblystoma texanum: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Small-mouthed Salamander (Ambystoma microstomum: Hay, Oliver P. 1892. Batrachians and Reptiles of the State of Indiana. Pages 409-624 in 17th Annual Report of the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources, William B. Burford, Printer and Binder, Indianapolis, Indiana. pp.); Small-mouthed Salamander (Ambystoma microstomum: Hay, Oliver P. 1892. Batrachians and Reptiles of the State of Indiana. Pages 409-624 in 17th Annual Report of the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources, William B. Burford, Printer and Binder, Indianapolis, Indiana. pp.); Small-headed Salamander (Chondrotus microstomus: Rhoads, Samuel N. 1895. Contributions to the zoology of Tennessee. No. 1, Reptiles and amphibians. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 47():376-407); Porphyry Salamander (Chondrotus microstomus: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46); Texan Salamander (Ambystoma texanum: Strecker, John K., Jr. 1922. An annotated catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Bexar County, Texas. Bulletin Scientific Society of San Antonio (4):1-31); Texas Salamander (Ambystoma texanum: Smith, Hobart M. 1934. The Amphibians of Kansas. American Midland Naturalist 15(4):377-527); Narrow-mouthed Salamander (Ambystoma texanum: Smith, Hobart M. 1934. The Amphibians of Kansas. American Midland Naturalist 15(4):377-527); Small-mouthed Salamander (Ambystoma texanum: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Smallmouth Salamander (Ambystoma texanum: Collins, Joseph T., James E. Huheey, James L. Knight, and Hobart M. Smith. 1978. Standard common and current scientific names for North American amphibians and reptiles. Herpetological Circulars (7):36);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
Amphibian Species of the World
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1855 Matthes, B. Die Hemibatrachier im Allgemeinen und die Hemibatrachier von Nord-Amerika im Speciellen. Allgemeine Deutsche Naturhistorische Zeitung, Neue Serie 1:249–280
1909 Strecker, John K., Jr. Notes on the Texan Salamander (Ambystoma texanum Matthes). Baylor University Bulletin 12(1):17-20
1949 Bragg, Arthur N. Observations on the narrowmouthed salamander. Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science 30:21-24
1958 Tihen, Joseph A. Comments on the osteology and phylogeny of ambystomatid salamanders. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 3(1):1-50
1967 Anderson, James D. Ambystoma texanum. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (37):1-2
1969 Tihen, Joseph A. Ambystoma. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (75):1-4
1982 Petranka, James W. Geographic variation in the mode of reproduction and larval characteristics of the small-mouthed salamander (Ambystoma texanum) in the east-central United States. Herpetologica 38(4):475-485
1991 Titus, Tom A. Use of road-killed amphibians in allozyme electrophoresis. Herpetological Review 22(1):14-16
2009 Williams, Rod N., David Gopurenko, Kevin R. Kemp, Brooke Williams and J. Andrew DeWoddy. Breeding chronology, sexual dimorphism, and genetic diversity of congeneric Ambystomatid salamanders. Journal of Herpetology 43(3):438-449
2021 Wade, Bryce S., Bailey H. Kemp, McKenna S. Vininski, Robert D. Denton, Stephen C. Richter, Andrea N. Drayer, Steven J. Price, Benjamin H. Holt, Keving G. Hutcheson, and Benjamin M. Fitzpatrick. Kleptogenesis in Kentucky, USA: Genetic analyses of unisexual Ambystoma at the southernmost extent of  their range. Herpetological Review 52(4):730–734

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 16:58 CT