The Systematic Status of Eumeces pluvialis CopeSmith, Hobart M. (Hobart Muir)
Science
The Systematic Status of Eumeces pluvialis Cope
Smith, Hobart M. (Hobart Muir)
Brook salamanders; Eumeces pluvialis; Hyla
=Eurycea lucifuga= (Rafinesque)
On October 21, 1945, E. W. Jameson, Jr., discovered a specimen of this
species in a small cave situated in a park 1-1/4 miles south of Galena,
Cherokee County, Kansas, on the north side of Shoal Creek, NW 1/4 of
Sec. 35, T. 35 S., R. 25 E. Later the same day Claude W. Hibbard and I
returned to the same cave, and with the help of Jameson found two more
specimens. All were found under stones in the twilight zone. Exploration
of deeper recesses of the cave was impossible because the larger
entrances to them had been closed off with cement to prevent children
from entering. No water was running from the cave at the time we were
there, although there was visible evidence of a previous heavy flow of
water, probably in times of heavy and prolonged rains. The only other
salamanders found in the limited area available for exploration belonged
to _Eurycea longicauda melanopleura_ (Cope), a form considerably more
abundant in the cave than _E. lucifuga_.
This constitutes the first published record of the occurrence of _E.
lucifuga_ in Kansas. Previous records from Arkansas, Missouri and
Oklahoma, as well as a sight record by Taylor (Smith, Amer. Midl. Nat.,
15:382-383, 1934) have indicated its probable occurrence in Kansas.
The largest specimen obtained is an adult male measuring 166 mm. in
total length; it exceeds by 2 mm. the maximum previously known. The
pattern and other characters of all specimens appear typical. The
specimens are in the Museum of Natural History of the University of
Kansas.
=Hyla crucifer crucifer= Wied
In 1943 Bragg (Great Basin Nat., 4:67, 1943) stated that _Hyla crucifer
crucifer_ has been recorded with certainty from only one county in
Oklahoma, McCurtain County in the extreme southeastern part of the
state. Reports of their call being heard in Le Flore County, immediately
north of McCurtain County had also been transmitted to him.
In Kansas the species is still known only from the northern half of the
extreme eastern part of the state (Smith, Amer. Midl. Nat., 15:472,
1934). Between this area and southeastern Oklahoma no record of
occurrence of the species has been available.
An adult specimen taken by Dr. Joseph Tihen in the extreme southeastern
corner of Delaware County, Oklahoma (Mus. Nat. Hist., Univ. Kans., No.
20827), thus provides a second definite locality for the species in
Oklahoma and suggests the probability that it ranges along the entire
eastern border of both Kansas and Oklahoma. The specimen is in poor
condition but enough of the pattern and some other features can be
discerned to permit reliable identification.
21-2765
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