THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY


Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  

Carolina Sandhills Salamander
Eurycea arenicola Stuart, Beamer, Farrington, Beane, Chek, Pusser, Som, Stephan, Sever, and Braswell, 2020
yoor-EE-see-uh — uh-REN-ih-ko-luh

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
New Species. Delimited from E. bislineata by Stuart et al. (2020, Herpetologica 76: 423–444). (Pyron, R. Alexander, Christopher K. Beachy, David A. Beamer, and Kenneth M. Kozak. 2025. Caudata – Salamanders. Pages 10-21 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.08.20.59.19)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.07 MB

Province/State Distribution:

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its sandy habitat.
Eurycea — Rafinesque (1822) intentionally used a mythological-sounding name, but its specific Greek meaning or derivation was not disclosed. So, while modern etymologists may connect Eurycea to Eurydice or Greek roots (eurys “broad”), Rafinesque himself treated it as a classical name without defined origin.
arenicola — Latin arena = “sand” + -cola = “dweller”; “Sand-dweller”

First instance(s) of published English names:
Carolina Sandhills Salamander (Eurycea arenicola: Stuart, B. L., D. A. Beamer, D. A. Farrington, J. C. Beane, A. A. Chek, L. T. Pusser, H. E. Som, D. Stephan, D. M. Sever, and A. L. Braswell. 2020. A new Two-lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata Complex) from the Sandhills of North Carolina. Herpetologica 76():423–444);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1993 Arnold, Steven J., Nancy L. Reagan, and Paul A. Verrell. Reproductive isolation and speciation in plethodontid salamanders. Herpetologica 49(2):216-228
2010 Kozak, Kenneth H. and John J. Wiens. Accelerated rates of climatic-niche evolution underlie rapid species diversification. Ecology Letters 13:1378-1389
2020 Stuart, B. L., D. A. Beamer, D. A. Farrington, J. C. Beane, A. A. Chek, L. T. Pusser, H. E. Som, D. Stephan, D. M. Sever, and A. L. Braswell. A new Two-lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata Complex) from the Sandhills of North Carolina. Herpetologica 76:423–444

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 20:06 CT