Critically Endangered
Georgetown salamander
Eurycea naufragia
Georgetown salamander is a salamander in the family Plethodontidae (order Caudata) — Eurycea naufragia, recorded as Critically Endangered and tied to United States.
Appearance
Although their coloration varies, most adults are dark brown, dark olive, or gray. Juveniles tend to be darker in color. Coloration is confined to the dorsal and lateral sides of the body. The ventral surface is usually translucent.
Adults are typically 5–7.5 cm (2.0–3.0 in) in length and less than 0.5 cm in diameter.
Range and habitat
The Georgetown salamander is associated with wet caves and springs in the San Gabriel River watershed in Williamson County, Texas. It is endemic to springs in Williamson County, Texas, near Lake Georgetown. It inhabits freshwater springs and, possibly, caves.
At present, only one population of the Georgetown salamander is located in a protected preserve.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Habits
Even so, the Georgetown salamander is permanently aquatic and retains its gills and flattened tail throughout its life.
In crisis
It is threatened by habitat loss. The specific name (that means "remnants" in Latin) refers to the few remaining remnants of habitat for this species. All known populations of the Georgetown salamander occur in an area undergoing rapid urbanization.
Current threats to the salamander include depletion and pollution of the Edward's Aquifer, that supplies the springs and caves in that the salamander occurs. Sedimentation associated with land clearing and construction is another threat to the salamanders, as they are critically dependent on the presence of interstitial spaces that are eliminated by sediment.
Salamanders disappear when seeps are capped, caves are disturbed, or a pathogen moves through a mountain range.
Georgetown salamander is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Georgetown salamander, Wikidata item Q800150. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
