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Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  
Limestone Salamander
Hydromantes brunus Gorman, 1954
HY-droh-MAN-teez — BROO-nus
Taxon Links
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Amphibian Species of the World
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
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GenBank
USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

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:; 220 Total; 197 Museum; 23 Other

The locality database contains 8,248,812 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: 2023.04.08.22.52.47)
Download map data (GeoJSON):
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
A cave- and crevice-dwelling salamander with a dusky brown coloration.
Hydromantes — From Greek hydro- (ὕδωρ), “water,” and mantēs (μάντης), “seer” or “diviner.” While the exact etymology is obscure, it likely evokes a poetic sense of “water spirit” or “creature of wet places,” appropriate for this lungless, moisture-dependent genus.
brunus — From Latin brunus, “brown” or “dusky.” Refers to the species’ uniform brownish coloration.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Limestone Salamander (Hydromantes brunus: Conant, Roger, Fred R. Cagle, Coleman J. Goin, Charles H. Lowe, Wilfred T. Neill, M. Graham Netting, Karl P. Schmidt, Charles E. Shaw, Robert C. Stebbins, and Charles M. Bogert. 1956. Common names for North American amphibians and reptiles. Copeia 1956(3):172-185);


Selected References:
1954 Gorman, Joe. A new species of salamander from central California. Herpetologica 10(3):153-158
1964 Gorman, Joe. Hydromantes.. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (10):1-2
1964 Gorman, Joe. Hydromantes brunus, H. platycephalus, and H. shastae.. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (11):1-2
1999 Nardi, Irma, Renata Batistoni, Silvia Marracci, and Benedetto Lanza. Repetitive DNA components of the large Hydromantes genome: Phylogenetic and molecular aspects. Herpetologica 55(2):131-139
2005 Wake, David B., Alfredo Salvador, and Miguel A. Alonso-Zarazaga. Taxonomy of the Plethodontid Salamander Genus Hydromantes (Caudata: Plethodontidae). Amphibia-Reptilia 26(4):543-548

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