THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY


Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  

Blue Ridge Two-lined Salamander
Eurycea wilderae Dunn, 1920
yoor-EE-see-uh — WIL-der-eye

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: 2023.04.08.20.59.18)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.1 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Georgia North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee Virginia

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named in honor of a biologist.
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.
wilderae — Patronym honoring Inez L. Whipple Wilder (1871-1929) a prominent zoologist, comparative anatomist, and pioneering herpetologist; feminine genitive form.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Blue Ridge Two-lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata wilderae: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1920 Dunn, Emmett R. Some reptiles and amphibians from Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 33:129–138
1965 Rossman, Douglas A. The blue ridge two-lined salamander, Eurycea bislineata wilderae, in Alabama. Herpetologica 20(4):287-288
1993 Arnold, Steven J., Nancy L. Reagan, and Paul A. Verrell. Reproductive isolation and speciation in plethodontid salamanders. Herpetologica 49(2):216-228
1999 Sever, David M. Eurycea wilderae Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (685):1-4
2010 Kozak, Kenneth H. and John J. Wiens. Accelerated rates of climatic-niche evolution underlie rapid species diversification. Ecology Letters 13:1378-1389

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 16:56 CT