THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY


Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  

Barton Springs Salamander
Eurycea sosorum Chippindale, Price, and Hillis, 1993
yoor-EE-see-uh — soh-SOR-um

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

(,   Museum Voucher) (,   Observation) (,   Literature Record), (,   Citizen Science), (  Fossil)
Open icons indicate questionable records; click on a marker to view details.
Occurrences:
123 Total
101 Museum
22 Other
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: - 0.01 MB
The locality database contains over 7 million records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Click on a marker to display the metadata and please report errors as you find them (to twtaggart@fhsu.edu).

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for conservation advocates.
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.
.
sosorum — Neo-Latin genitive plural of acronym SOS (Save Our Springs) + Latin suffix -orum; Honors the Save Our Springs Alliance, instrumental in protecting the salamander’s habitat.

First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.

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
1993 Chippindale, Paul T., Andrew H. Price, and David M. Hillis. A new species of perennibranchiate salamander (Eurycea: Plethodontidae) from Austin, Texas. Herpetologica 49(2):248-259
2003 Wiens, John J., Paul T. Chippindale, and David M. Hillis. When are phylogenetic analyses misled by convergence? A case study in Texas cave salamanders. Systematic Biology 52(4):501-514
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 Letter 13:1378-1389

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 10 July 2026 14:37 CT