THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Caudata    Proteidae  

Red River Mudpuppy
Necturus louisianensis Viosca, 1938
NEK-tur-us — loo-ee-zee-uh-NEN-sis

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. (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: 2024.01.22.00.28.06)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.02 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arkansas Kansas Louisiana Missouri Oklahoma

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its association with Louisiana and the Mississippi River drainage.
Necturus — Greek for “swimming tail,” alluding to its fully aquatic nature.
louisianensis — Latinized form meaning “from Louisiana,” referring to its type locality and primary range within the lower Mississippi River basin.

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: Friday 05 December 2025 16:54 CT