Tennessee Cave Salamander
Gyrinophilus palleucus McCrady, 1954

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Eyes

Reduced

Pigment

Normal

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Maximum length

20-260 mm

Distribution

Type locality

Sinking Cove Cave, Franklin Co., TN

Range

Known from 27 counties across three states in the Interior Low Plateau karst region.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee

Counties

Alabama

Blount, Colbert, DeKalb, JACKSON, Jackson - Franklin, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan

Georgia

RABUN, Walker

Tennessee

Bedford, Coffee, FRANKLIN, Franklin Co, Grundy, Grundy Co, Hamilton, Jackson - Franklin, Knox, MARION, Marshall, Maury, Roane, Rutherford, WILSON, Warren

Karst regions

Interior Low Plateau

Ecology and life history

Genetics

Molecular resources

67 sequences, retrieved 23 August 2026. Counts change as sequences are deposited. Search GenBank.

Download all 67 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Mitogenome

Available

Specimens

Type material

Holotype

A-34100 · Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard

Paratype

121930 · Field Museum of Natural History

Paratype ×4

Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard

Topotype

7001 · Florida Museum of Natural History

Type

72585 · Field Museum of Natural History

Collections holding material

206 cataloged lots in 17 collections. Compiled from GBIF and not an exhaustive census: many collections are not yet digitised, and holdings are added continually. Search GBIF for specimen records.

Download all 206 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.

Conservation and management

IUCN Red List

NT Near Threatened na

Assessed in 2021.

NatureServe

G2G3 Imperiled to Vulnerable

Global rank last reviewed 12 June 2019.

Subnational ranks

Alabama

S2 Imperiled

Georgia

S1 Critically Imperiled

Tennessee

S2 Imperiled

Ranks looked up 23 August 2026. Conservation status changes, and a rank here is as current as that date and no more.

State and federal status

Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

3HYSV

GBIF

2431435

ITIS

173714

iNaturalist

27506

NCBI Taxonomy

505961

BOLD

BOLD:ADC7978

References

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• Blair, A.P. 1961. Metamorphosis of Pseudotriton palleucus with iodine. Copeia 1961: 499. doi:10.2307/1439615
• Brandon, R.A. 1962. A systematic study of the salamander genus Gyrinophilus. University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA. 121 pp.
• Brandon, R.A. 1965. A new race of the neotenic salamander Gyrinophilus palleucus. Copeia 1965: 346–352.
• Brandon, R.A. 1966. Systematics of the salamander genus Gyrinophilus. Illinois Biological Monographs 35: 1–86.
• Brandon, R.A. 1967b. Food and an intestinal parasite of the troglobitic salamander Gyrinophilus palleucus necturoides. Herpetologica 23: 52–53.
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Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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