THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY


Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  

Ouachita Streambed Salamander
Eurycea subfluvicola Steffen, Irwin, Blair, and Bonett, 2014
yoor-EE-see-uh — sub-FLOO-vih-koh-lah

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: 2024.01.14.13.26.19)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.01 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arkansas

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its underground aquatic 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 a defined origin.
subfluvicola — Latin sub- = “under,” fluvius = “river,” -cola = “dweller”; “Under-river dweller”

First instance(s) of published English names:
Ouachita Streambed Salamander (Eurycea subfluvicola: Steffen, Michael A., Kelly J. Irwin , Andrea L. Blair, and Ronald M. Bonett. 2014. Larval masquerade: A new species of paedomorphic salamander (Caudata: Plethodontidae: Eurycea) from the Ouachita Mountains of North America. Zootaxa 3786(4):423-442);

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
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
2014 Steffen, Michael A., Kelly J. Irwin , Andrea L. Blair, and Ronald M. Bonett. Larval masquerade: A new species of paedomorphic salamander (Caudata: Plethodontidae: Eurycea) from the Ouachita Mountains of North America. Zootaxa 3786(4):423-442

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 16:59 CT