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Amphibia    Caudata    Ambystomatidae  

Mole Salamander
Ambystoma talpoideum (Holbrook, 1838)
AM-bis-TOH-mah — tal-POY-dee-um

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

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Open icons indicate questionable records, including those with coordinate uncertainty greater than 10,000 m (approximately 6 miles). Click a marker to view metadata.
Occurrences:; 4,124 Total; 3,118 Museum; 1,006 Other

The locality database contains 8,094,832 records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Logged-in, registered users may report a potential issue directly from the marker popup.
Shaded range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH. (Version: 2026.05.14.13.49.02)
Download map data (GeoJSON):
Polygon Range File Museum Literature Fossil Personal Observation Citizen Science

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Alabama Arkansas Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Missouri North Carolina Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Texas Virginia

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its burrowing habits and mole-like body.
Ambystoma — Greek amblys = "blunt" + stoma = "mouth"
talpoideum — Latin talpa = "mole" + -oideus = "resembling"; “Mole-like”

First instance(s) of published English names:
Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum: Jordan, David Starr. 1876. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Jansen, McClurg, and Company, Chicago, Illinois.. 342pp.); Mole Salamander (Amblystoma talpoideum: Jordan, David S. 1878. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Second Edition, Revised, and Enlarged. Jansen, McClurg & Company, Chicago. pp.); Tadpole Salamander (Amblystoma talpoideum: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Mole Salamander (Amblystoma talpoideum: Davis, N. S., and Frank L. Rice. 1883. List of Batrachia and Reptilia of Illinois. Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 1(3):25–32); Mole Salamander (Amblystoma talpoideum: Garman, H. 1892. A synopsis of the reptiles and amphibians of Illinois. Illinois Laboratory of Natural History Bulletin 3():215-403); Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum: Hay, Oliver P. 1892. Batrachians and Reptiles of the State of Indiana. Pages 409-624 in 17th Annual Report of the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources,. William B. Burford, Printer and Binder, Indianapolis, Indiana. pp.); Salamander (Amblystoma talpoideum: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46); Tadpole (Amblystoma talpoideum: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
Amphibian Species of the World
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1838 Holbrook, John E. North American Herpetology; or, a Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Volume 3. J. Dobson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 122pp.
1941 Blair, Albert P. Ambystoma talpoideum in Oklahoma. Copeia 1941(3):184
1958 Tihen, Joseph A. Comments on the osteology and phylogeny of ambystomatid salamanders. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 3(1):1-50
1964 Shoop, C. Robert. Ambystoma talpoideum. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (8):1-2
1969 Tihen, Joseph A. Ambystoma. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (75):1-4

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