The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that two Texas species are not warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
The Rio Grande Cooter is found within the Rio Grande watershed in the Devils River, Pecos River, Rio Grande, Río Salado and Río San Juan basins, while the Blanco Blind Salamander is known only from one specimen collected in 1951 from the Blanco River near San Marcos.
“In 1951, on the Blanco River, just underneath I- 35 as you’re coming into San Marcos, you know, it was a period of drought, there was a gravel company, the Blanco was dry. They went down there and found some water seeping out, and they started digging down,” said Michael Warriner, the Supervisory Fish and Wildlife Biologist. “Some, white blind salamanders appeared in this pool and so somebody collected them and took them to what was Southwest [Texas] State now, Texas State. It wasn’t until like 60-70s that somebody said, ‘Oh, I think this might be something,’ and they described it as a new species, the Blanco Blind.”
