Big Mouth Cave salamander | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Amphibia |
Order: | Urodela |
Family: | Plethodontidae |
Genus: | Gyrinophilus |
Species: | |
Subspecies: | G. p. necturoides |
Trinomial name | |
Gyrinophilus palleucus necturoides Lazell and Brandon, 1962 |
Gyrinophilus palleucus necturoides, the Big Mouth Cave salamander, a lungless salamander, is a subspecies of the Tennessee cave salamander (Gyrinophilus palleucus). The Big Mouth Cave salamander lives in Big Mouth Cave and other caves in the Elk River drainage basin in Grundy County and Coffee County, Tennessee. The salamander was first described by Lazell and Brandon in 1962. [2]
While the TNC rates the Big Mouth Cave salamander as "critically imperiled", [1] IUCN claims it is only "vulnerable". [3] A study in 2007 by Brian T. Miller and Matthew L. Niemiller investigated the actual population size of the subspecies. They determined that the subspecies was actually abundant in Big Mouth Cave and other caves, contrary to popular concern. [4]
The northern cavefish or northern blindfish is found in caves through Kentucky and southern Indiana. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as near threatened.
The tiger salamander is a species of mole salamander and one of the largest terrestrial salamanders in North America.
The Alabama cave shrimp is a species of shrimp in the family Atyidae, found only in caves in the state of Alabama.
Sauta Cave National Wildlife Refuge is a 264-acre (107 ha) National Wildlife Refuge located in northeastern Alabama, near the Sauty Creek embayment of Guntersville Lake.
Shelta Cave is a 2,500-foot-long (760 m) cave and lake located in Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama, United States. It is described as one of the most bio-diverse caves within the Appalachian Mountains. The cave is currently owned and managed as a nature preserve by the National Speleological Society, with their main offices directly above the cave. It was declared a National Natural Landmark in October 1972.
The seepage salamander is a small, terrestrial species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the United States. They are found in small areas of Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, intermittent rivers, and freshwater springs. It gets its name from the seepages around which it lives. It is very similar in its appearance and life history to the pygmy salamander. These two species differ greatly from the other Desmognathus species. They are the smallest salamanders in the genus, measuring only 3–5 cm (1–2 in) in length. They are also the only two terrestrial, direct-developing Desmognathus species. However, the two species are not often seen to coexist, differing in distribution by elevation; although there are exceptions. The seepage salamander is currently listed as Near Threatened, with its numbers declining in most of states in which it is found. It is threatened by habitat loss, with logging having a major effect.
Eurycea longicauda, commonly known as the long-tailed salamander or longtail salamander, is a species of lungless salamander native to the Appalachian Region of the eastern United States. It is a "cave salamander" that frequents twilight zones of caves and also inhabits springs and surrounding forest.
The Berry Cave salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae, endemic to the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians of eastern Tennessee in the United States. Its natural habitat is inland karsts where it lives underground. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The Tennessee cave salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae, endemic to the Appalachian Mountains in the United States. Its natural habitats are streams in caves. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The spring salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is found in Canada and the United States. The genus, Gyrinophilus, means "tadpole lover" and refers to the long period of time it spends as a gilled larva before maturing. The specific epithet, porphyriticus, is Latin from Greek, meaning the color of porphyry, a purple stone, and this salamander has also been called the purple salamander.
The West Virginia spring salamander is a species of troglobitic salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to West Virginia, the United States.
The mud salamander is a bright red salamander of the family Plethodontidae. It is found in streams, seeps and swamps and underneath logs, rocks and leaves. It is endemic to the eastern half of the United States with one isolated population in central Mississippi. Mud salamanders are rarely seen plethodontids that inhabit muddy wetland and riparian habitats. Mud salamanders don’t generally live above 700 meters in elevation in the Appalachian Mountains, resulting in two geographically isolated populations. Mud salamanders have short stocky bodies ranging from 7.5 to 16 cm long. Body color ranges with age and locality. There are four subspecies in the mud salamander complex, namely the Gulf Coast mud salamander, rusty mud salamander, Midland mud salamander and the eastern mud salamander. Mud salamanders are ectothermic, meaning that they cannot control their body temperature and it fluctuates with the temperature. The mud salamander is readily confused with two other species, the red salamander and the spring salamander.
The red salamander is a species of salamander in the family (Plethodontidae) endemic to the eastern United States. Its skin is orange/red with random black spots. Its habitats are temperate forests, small creeks, ponds, forests, temperate shrubland, rivers, intermittent rivers, freshwater, trees springs. Overall this species is common and widespread, but locally it has declined because of habitat loss and it is considered threatened in Indiana and New York. Red salamanders eat insects, earthworms, spiders, small crustaceans, snails, and smaller salamanders. To eat, they extend their tongue to capture prey on the tip of it and retract it back into their mouths. The red salamander, as a member of the family Plethodontidae lacks lungs and respires through its skin.
Typhlichthys subterraneus, the southern cavefish, is a species of cavefish in the family Amblyopsidae endemic to karst regions of the eastern United States.
Cambarus cryptodytes, the Dougherty Plain cave crayfish or Apalachicola cave crayfish, is a small, freshwater crayfish endemic to Florida and Georgia in the United States. It is an underground species known only from waters associated with the Floridan aquifer.
A cave salamander is a type of salamander that primarily or exclusively inhabits caves, a group that includes several species. Some of these animals have developed special, even extreme, adaptations to their subterranean environments. Some species have only rudimentary eyes. Others lack pigmentation, rendering them a pale yellowish or pinkish color.
Orconectes sheltae, the Shelta Cave crayfish, is a small, freshwater crayfish endemic to Alabama in the United States. It is a cave-dwelling species known from only one cave, Shelta Cave in Madison County, Alabama. This cave is also home to O. australis and Cambarus jonesi.