''Gyrinophilus palleucus necturoides'', the Big Mouth Cave salamander, a

lungless salamander Plethodontidae, or lungless salamanders, are a family of salamanders. Most species are native to the Western Hemisphere, from British Columbia to Brazil, although a few species are found in Sardinia, Europe south of the Alps, and South Korea. In ...

, is a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the

Tennessee cave salamander The Tennessee cave salamander (''Gyrinophilus palleucus'') 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 ...

(''Gyrinophilus palleucus''). The Big Mouth Cave salamander lives in Big Mouth Cave and other caves in the Elk River

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

in Grundy County and Coffee County,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. The salamander was first described by Lazell and

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name *Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

in 1962.

Conservation status

While the TNC rates the Big Mouth Cave salamander as "critically imperiled",

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

claims it is only "vulnerable". 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.

References

Cave salamanders Fauna of the Eastern United States Critically endangered fauna of the United States Gyrinophilus {{Plethodontidae-stub