Discovery of the Mexican Blindcat, Prietella phreatophila, in the U.S.

Authors: Dean A. Hendrickson, Jack Jackson, Peter Sprouse, Sarah Howard, Gary P. Garrett, Jean K. Krejca, Adam E. Cohen, Dante Fenolio

Year: 2016 (xlviii)

Abstract

A natural population of the Mexican blindcat, Prietella phreatophila Carranza 1954, previously known only from M’xico, was documented in 2016 from a cave in the Amistad National Recreation Area in Texas. Occurrence of the species in Texas is consistent with other indicators of international interconnections of aquifers in this region under the R’o Grande. Long listed as Endangered by the Mexican government, it was also listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as Endangered in 1970, and so the Texas population is fully protected under the Endangered Species Act as Endangered. As a result of the extremely low detectability of the species and very limited access to its habitat to sample, it is likely that the range of the species in both countries is broader than physical sampling of specimens has revealed. Here we review all previous knowledge of the species and its habitat and provide a reassessment of its overall conservation status and threats, most notably including aquifer depletion and contamination in both the Mexican and U.S. portions of its known range.