Eurycea spelaea

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AMPHIBIA	CAUDATA	PLETHODONTIDAE

Scientific Name:

Eurycea spelaea

Species Authority:

(Stejneger, 1892)

Common Name/s:

English

–

Grotto Salamander

Synonym/s:

Eurycea spelaeus Stejneger, 1892

Typhlotriton spelaeus Stejneger, 1892

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Least Concern ver 3.1

Year Published:

2004

Assessor/s:

Geoffrey Hammerson

Reviewer/s:

Global Amphibian Assessment Coordinating Team (Simon Stuart, Janice Chanson, Neil Cox and Bruce Young)

Contributor/s:

Justification:
Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.

History:

1996	–	Data Deficient
1994	–	Insufficiently Known (Groombridge 1994)
1990	–	Insufficiently Known (IUCN 1990)
1988	–	Insufficiently Known (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988)
1986	–	Insufficiently Known (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986)

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species can be found in the Salem and Springfield plateaus in the Ozark region of Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas, USA (Conant and Collins 1991, Collons 1993, Johnson 2000).
Countries:	Native: United States
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	Johnson (2000) mapped occurrences in 25 counties in Missouri. Most of the rest of the range is in Arkansas, where an out-of-date review by Brandon (1970) indicated 12 locations (he showed 15 in Missouri).
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Adults inhabit caves. Larvae are found in surface spring runs as well as in cave waters. Most abundant in caves that have a large number of bats. Probably attaches eggs to rocks in or near water.
Systems:	Terrestrial; Freshwater

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	It is unthreatened range wide, but vulnerable to factors that degrade ground water quality or that negatively impact bat populations (such as water pollution, and clear-cutting of forest).

Major Threat(s):

It is unthreatened range wide, but vulnerable to factors that degrade ground water quality or that negatively impact bat populations (such as water pollution, and clear-cutting of forest).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Long-term monitoring is needed to assess the viability of populations (Petranka 1998). It occurs in several protected areas.

Conservation Actions:

Long-term monitoring is needed to assess the viability of populations (Petranka 1998). It occurs in several protected areas.

Citation:	Geoffrey Hammerson 2004. Eurycea spelaea. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 20 June 2013.
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