MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION 



Following the original fear that the species 

 was being depleted, the Nature Conservancy pur- 

 chased Ezell's Cave in 1967. The bat colony that 

 had roosted there and contributed much of the 

 basic energy for the cave and local aquifer com- 

 munity had been almost eliminated when the cave 

 entrance was sealed some years before. Although 

 efforts to reestablish the bat colony have thus far 

 been unsuccessful, a few cave-dwellers, including 

 Typhlomolge rathbuni, are still infrequently ob- 

 served (F. E. Potter personal communication). 



The continued protection afforded by offi- 

 cial Hsting should minimize the potential impact 

 of collectors on the few cave habitats accessible 

 to them. The major part of the blind salamander's 

 habitat is inaccessible, but adverse impact is pro- 

 jected as the aquifer level declines with increased 

 ground water usage (Longley 1978). Concurrent 

 vkdth this decline in water quantity is the increased 

 potential for urban pollution as more and more 

 urbanization takes place along the aquifer re- 

 charge zone. General management plans, de- 

 signed by action agencies to maximize recharge 

 and minimize introduced contaminants, mostly to 

 benefit human consumption, should also benefit 

 the diverse assemblage of species occupying the 

 aquifer, including Typhlomolge rathbuni. A study 

 is currently underway at Ezell's Cave to deter- 

 mine existing environmental conditions (water 

 quality) and present trends in faunal abundance 

 and diversity. The results should serve as a basis 

 on which to monitor conditions in the cave. 



AUTHORITIES 



Glenn Longley 

 Biology Department 

 Southwest Texas State University 

 San Marcos, TX 78666 



Floyd E. Potter, Jr. 



Texas Parks and Wildlife Department 



4200 Smith School Road 



Austin, TX 78744 



Samuel S. Sweet 



Department of Biological Sciences 

 University of California, Santa Barbara 

 Santa Barbara, CA 93106 



PREPARER'S COMMENTS 



Mitchell and Reddell (1965) placed the Texas 

 blind salamander in the genus Eurycea; however, 

 Brandon (1971) retained Typhlomolge. New data 



on skull morphology support the continued 

 recognition of the genus Typhlomolge (Potter and 

 Sweet 1979). 



LITERATURE CITED/SELECTED 

 REFERENCES 



Brandon, R. A. 1971. North American troglobi- 

 tic salamanders: Some aspects of modification 

 in cave habitats with special reference to 

 Gyrinophilus palleucus. Bull. Natl. Speleol. 

 Soc. 33:1-2L 



Conant, R. 1975. A field guide to reptiles and am- 

 phibians of eastern and central North America, 

 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 

 429 pp. 



Dunn, E. R. 1926. The salamanders of the family 

 Plethodontidae. Smith College Publications, 

 Northampton, Mass. 441 pp. 



Longley, G. 1975. Environmental assessment, 

 Upper San Marcos River watershed. Environ- 

 mental Sciences of San Marcos. Soil Conserv. 

 Serv. Contract AG-48-SCS 01256. 367 pp. 



. 1978. Status of the Texas blind salaman- 

 der. Endangered Species Report 2. U.S. Fish 

 Wildl. Serv., Albuquerque. 45 pp. 



Mitchell, R. W., and J. R. Reddell. 1965. Eurycea 

 tridentifera , a new species of troglobitic sala- 

 mander from Texas and a reclassification of 

 Typhlomolge rathbuni. TexasJ.Sci. 17:12-27. 



Mohr, C. E., and T. L. Poulson. 1966. The Hfe of 

 the cave. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York. 

 232 pp. 



Potter, F. E., Jr. 1963. Gross morphological varia- 

 tion in the genus Typhlomolge with descrip- 

 tion of a new species. Unpubl. M.S. Thesis. 

 Univ. of Texas, Austin. 66 pp. 



Potter, F. E., Jr. and S. S. Sweet. 1979. Generic 

 boundaries in Texas cave salamanders and a 

 redescription of Typhlomolge robusta (Am- 

 phibia: Plethodontidae). Copeia. In press. 



Russell, W. H. 1976. Distribution of troglobitic 

 salamanders in the San Marcos area. Hays 

 County, Texas. Unpubl. Rep. 7601, Texas 

 Assoc. Biol. Invest. Trogl. Eurycea, Austin. 

 35 pp. 



Zahl, P. A. 1972. The shadowy world of salaman- 

 ders. Natl. Geog. Mag. 142(1):104-117. 



