THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Caudata    Proteidae  

Red River Mudpuppy
Necturus louisianensis Viosca, 1938

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 This taxon was treated as a full species by Chabarria et al. (2018, Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 56: 352–363), elevating it from a subspecies of N. maculosus.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2024.01.22.00.28.06)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.02 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Arkansas Kansas Louisiana Missouri Oklahoma

First instance(s) of published English names:
Waterdog (Necturus maculosus maculosus: Smith, Hobart M. 1934. The Amphibians of Kansas. American Midland Naturalist 15(4):377-527); Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus maculosus: Smith, Hobart M. 1934. The Amphibians of Kansas. American Midland Naturalist 15(4):377-527); Red River Waterdog (Necturus maculosus louisianensis: 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:
1938 Viosca, Percy, Jr. A new waterdog from central Louisiana. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 51:143-146
1948 Sanders, Ottys. Necturus and Amphiuma in Texas. Herpetologica 4:167-168
1954 Cagle, Fred R. Observations on the life history of the salamander Necturus louisianensis. Copeia 1954(4):257-260
1967 Shoop, C. Robert, and G. E. Gunning. Seasonal activity and movements of Necturus in Louisiana. Copeia 1967(4):732-737
1985 Sessions, Stanley K. and John E. Wiley. Chromosome evolution in salamanders of the genus Necturus. Brimleyana (10):37-52
1988 Maxson, Linda R., Paul E. Moler, B. W. Mansell, and L. R. Maxson. Albumin Evolution in Salamanders of the Genus Necturus. Journal of Herpetology 22(2):231-235
1991 Collins, Joseph T. Viewpoint: A new taxonomic arrangement for some North American amphibins and reptiles Herpetological Review 22(2):42-43
2004 Taggart, Travis W. Life history. Necturus louisianensis. New maximum length for entire range. Journal of Kansas Herpetology (10):11
2014 Crother, Brian I. The bold taxonomic hypotheses of Collins (1991): 23 years later. Herpetological Review 45(2):268-272
2017 Chabarria, Ryan E., Christopher M. Murray, Paul E. Molerm, Henry L. Bart Jr., Brian I. Crother, and Craig Guyer. Evolutionary insights into the North American Necturus beyeri complex (Amphibia: Caudata) based on molecular genetic and morphological analyses. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 56(3):352–363

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 21 April 2025 12:19 CT