Eurycea robusta, the Blanco blind salamander, is restricted in its distribution to the Balcones Aquifer near the Blanco River in Hays County, Texas. It is thought to inhabit subterranean streams.
Eurycea robusta formerly was called Typhlomolge robusta. Mitchell and Reddell (1965) proposed the placement of T. rathbuni in Eurycea, a placement supported by the phylogenetic analysis of Chippindale et al. (2000). Hillis et al. (2001) proposed that the name Typhlomolge be retained for the lineage consisting of the last common ancestor of E. rathbuni, E. robusta, and E. waterlooensis, and all of its descendants.
About the Species
This specimen, the holotype, was collected from the Blanco River bed 200 yards northwest of bridge (SM 425), 3.3 air miles northeast of Hays County courthouse, Hays County, Texas on 23 July 1951 by McBride and Wilson. It was made available to the University of Texas High-resolution X-ray CT Facility for scanning by Dr. David Hillis of the Section of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin. Funding for scanning and image processing was provided by a National Science Foundation Digital Libraries Initiative grant to Dr. Timothy Rowe of the Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin.
About this Specimen
The head of the specimen was scanned by Matthew Colbert and Richard Ketcham on 21 November 2000 along the coronal axis for a total of 483 522x522 pixel slices. Each slice is 0.030 mm thick, with an interslice spacing of 0.030 mm and a field of reconstruction of 16.465 mm.
Chippindale, P. T., A. H. Price, J. J. Wiens, and D. M. Hillis. 2000. Phylogenetic relationships and systematic revision of central Texas hemidactyliine plethodontid salamanders. Herpetological Monographs 14:1-80.
Hillis, D. M., D. A. Chamberlain, T. P. Wilcox, and P. T. Chippindale. 2001. A new species of subterranean blind salamander (Plethodontidae: Hemidactyliini: Eurycea: Typhlomolge) from Austin, Texas, and a systematic revision of central Texas paedomorphic salamanders. Herpetologica 57:266-280.
Mitchell, R. W., and J. R. Reddell. 1965. Eurycea tridentifera, a new species of troglobitic salamander from Texas and a reclassification of Typhlomolge rathbuni. Texas Journal of Science 23:343-362.
Potter, F. E., and S. S. Sweet. 1981. Generic boundaries in Texas cave salamanders, and a redescription of Typhlomolge robusta (Amphibia: Plethodontidae). Copeia 1981:64-75.
Eurycea (Typhlomolge) robusta page on the Herps of Texas website (The University of Texas at Austin)