#lungless salamanders

Can you guess how the slimy salamander got its name?

Here's a hint: It's because of all the slime it produces! When threatened, slimy salamanders produce large amounts of an adhesive mucus that can glue the jaws of potential predators together, giving the salamander time to escape.

Painted Ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii ssp. picta)

Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)

Dunn's Salamander (Plethodon dunni)

Shine a Light on the Cave Salamander

The cave salamander, also known as the spotted salamander (Eurycea lucifuga) is a species of salamander found throughout the eastern United States, particularly in the Appalachian mountains. As the name implies, they are most common in caves with exposed limestone or other calcifying rocks. However, they may also occur under rocks or logs, or in streams in deciduous forests; anywhere that's dark and moist.

The spotted salamander spends almost its entire life in these 'twilight zones'. Mating is believed to occur in summer or early fall, when male salamanders begin to seek out females by tracking their pheromones. Once a male finds a potential mate, he nudges her and rubs his chin on her head until she indicates she's receptive. At that point she straddles his tail while the two walk in tandem. The male then drops a spermatophore-- a sack full of sperm-- on the ground, and the female picks it up with her cloaca. The female lays a clutch of 5 to 120 eggs, but not until several months after fertilization between September and February.

The eggs take about 20 days to hatch, and larvae entirely aquatic, complete with gills and webbed fingers. Individuals can take anywhere from 6 to 18 months to fully develop, at which point they leave the water and become fully nocturnal. However, most individuals don't stray far from their original spawning territory, and adults do not maintain or defend set territories.

Despite their reclusive lifestyle, cave salamanders are quite striking. Adults are bright orange or red with black spots, and can be anywhere from 10 to 20 cm (4 to 8 in) in length. Over half of that length is taken up by the tail, and males have a longer tail than females. As lungless salamanders, E. lucifuga breathes through its skin and the tissues around its mouth-- while useful for an aquatic animal, this type of respiration makes it essential that the cave salamander remains in a wet environment.

Both larvae and adults are insectivorous, consuming a number of invertebrates including spiders, snails, beetles, earthworms, and ticks. Potential predators of the spotted salamander include bats, shrews, racoons, and snakes, though few specifics are known about the species' ecology. To deter these predators, E. lucifuga adopts a defensive posture in which they coil their body and wave their tail over their head. In addition, they secrete a foul-tasting substance from their skin, and their bright coloration likely warns potential predators that they won't make a good meal.

Conservation status: The IUCN has classified the cave salamander as Least Concern, although they are listed as Endangered in several of the American states in which they occur. The greatest threat to the species is thought to be human disturbance or habitat degredation from pollution of the water systems which flow through the caves where E. lucifuga resides.

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Photos

Todd Pierson

In the animal kingdom, sentimentality doesn't go very far. Female red back salamanders spend about two months guarding their clutch, which contains anywhere from 4 to 17 eggs. However, if any of the eggs die she won't hesitate to eat them-- not only does she gain valuable nutrients, but eating the dead eggs helps prevent the spread of infection to the rest of the clutch. Though it may seem gruesome, this behavior is common among egg-laying animals.

(Image: A red back salamander (Plethodon cinereus) by Will Lattea)

If you ever go walking in the temperate rainforests of California or British Columbia, you may just be hit by a falling salamander. Many species of salamander reside in trees, but the aptly named wandering salamander will jump from their perches when threatened. They’re unharmed by these leaps, controlling their splaying their limbs and controlling their descent with their tails.

(Image: A stray wandering salamander (Aneides vagrans) by Dan Portik)

A Splendid Arboreal Salamander

The Arboreal Salamander (Aneides lugubris) is a species of climbing salamander native to the west North American coast, from the Pacific northwest United States to northern Mexico. It is a member of the plethodontid salamander group, of which whose most distinguishing feature is that they lack lungs. Instead these salamanders breathe directly through their skin and the inside of their mouth. Because of this, they can only thrive in damp climates and seldom descend to ground level. They spend most of their time in trees or bushes, and their prehensile tails make them expert climbers.

Arboreal salamanders are on the smaller end compared with other salamander species, at about 6-10 cm in length. Their sides are grooved, which helps increase respiration. Males and females are generally the same size and color: a brownish purple with yellow spots and a cream underside. This coloring makes for good camouflage, as the Arboreal salamander has many predators including snakes, larger lizards, birds of prey, and small mammals like raccoons.

Like many salamanders, A. lugubris is nocturnal. They hide during the day, usually in cracks or hollows in trees, and emerge at night to feed on insects and other invertebrates. They aren’t territorial, and have in fact been found to share spaces peacefully with many other species of salamander. In spring, when rains are at their heaviest, they emerge to mate. Females lay between 12 to 24 eggs in late-spring to early summer in a moist, secluded area. She then stays with them until they hatch three or four months later, at which time mother and children part ways. Arboreal salamanders become sexually mature at two years, but many don’t live to that age. Those that do survive can live to be as old as eleven.

Conservation Status: Rated as Least Concern by the IUCN, although it is considered a rare and sensitive species. Their primary threat is habitat destruction and fragmentation, although they are also highly susceptible to air pollution given their method of respiration.

Photos

Gary Nafis

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