THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  

Texas Salamander
Eurycea neotenes Bishop and Wright, 1937
yoor-EE-see-uh — nee-oh-TEE-neez

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Populations from the western portions of the Pedernales and Guadalupe drainages are currently recognized as this species but are referred to as “E. sp. 1” by Devitt et al. (2019, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116: 2624–2633). There was no comment about this species in their “Taxonomic Implications” section. (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: 2023.04.08.20.59.18)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.01 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its retention of juvenile traits.
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 a defined origin.
neotenes — Greek neos = “young” + teinein = “to stretch”; Refers to neoteny, the retention of larval characteristics in the adult.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Bexar County Neotenic Salamander (Eurycea neotenes neotens: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Texas Salamander (Eurycea neotenes: Conant, Roger, Fred R. Cagle, Coleman J. Goin, Charles H. Lowe, Wilfred T. Neill, M. Graham Netting, Karl P. Schmidt, Charles E. Shaw, Robert C. Stebbins, and Charles M. Bogert. 1956. Common names for North American amphibians and reptiles. Copeia 1956(3):172-185); Bexar County Salamander (Eurycea neotenes neotenes: Conant, Roger, Fred R. Cagle, Coleman J. Goin, Charles H. Lowe, Wilfred T. Neill, M. Graham Netting, Karl P. Schmidt, Charles E. Shaw, Robert C. Stebbins, and Charles M. Bogert. 1956. Common names for North American amphibians and reptiles. Copeia 1956(3):172-185);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1937 Bishop, S. C., and M. R. Wright. A new neotenic salamander from Texas. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 50:141–144.
1942 Brown, Bryce C. Notes on Eurycea neotenes. Copeia 1942:176
1967 Brown, Bryce C. Eurycea neotenes. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (36):1-2
1976 Bruce, Richard C. Population structure, life history and evolution of paedogenesis in the salamander Eurycea neotenes. Copeia 1976:242-249
1993 Arnold, Steven J., Nancy L. Reagan, and Paul A. Verrell. Reproductive isolation and speciation in plethodontid salamanders. Herpetologica 49(2):216-228
2003 Wiens, John J., Paul T. Chippindale and David M. Hillis. When are phylogenetic analyses misled by convergence? A case study in Texas cave salamanders. Systematic Biology 52(4):501-514
2009 Lucas, Lauren K., Zachariah Gompert, James R. Ott, and Chris C. Nice. Geographic and genetic isolation in spring-associated Eurycea salamanders endemic to the Edwards Plateau region of Texas. Conservation Genetics 10:1309-1319
2010 Kozak, Kenneth H. and John J. Wiens. Accelerated rates of climatic-niche evolution underlie rapid species diversification. Ecology Letters 13:1378-1389
2019 Devitt, Thomas J., April M. Wright, David C. Cannatella, and David M. Hillis. Species delimitation in endangered groundwater salamanders: Implications for aquifer management and biodiversity conservation. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 116(7):2624–2633

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 17:00 CT