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TU researchers discover new species

The salamander that was first discovered by a TU doctoral student back in 2011 is now being called a new species in an international journal for animal taxonomy.

Doctoral student Michael Steffen and Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Herpetologist Kelly Irwin discovered the new species in May of 2011 while studying genetic diversity of other salamanders in Lake Catherine State Park near Hot Springs, Ark.

TU says the latest issue of Zootaxa will feature the paper and provide details on the Ouachita Streambed Salamander. The school says the amphibian is one of the most "genetically distinct" species of salamander to be identified in the United States within the past 70 years.

This species currently has the smallest known range of any other amphibian in the country

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