Slimy Salamander

Plethodon glutinosus (complex)

Slimy Salamander

Status

The Slimy Salamander is abundant rangewide.

Description

The Slimy Salamander is a large (12–20.6 cm), black salamander with white, cream-colored spots or brassy flecks on its sides and dorsum. Some populations in the Coastal Plain lack this flecking. Based on biochemical data, Highton and others (1989) split this species into thirteen species. Habitat and natural history data are not addressed for these newly described species. Therefore, the description, will be used to cover the following species: P. albagula, P. chattahoochee, P. chlorobryonis, P. cylindraceus, P. glutinosus, P. grobmani, P. kiamichi, P. kisatchie, P. mississippi, P. ocmulgee, P. savannah, P. sequoyah, and P. variolatus. [See bottom of this page for distribution maps.]

Distribution

The Plethodon glutinosus complex occurs from central Florida, the Gulf states and Texas, north through eastern Oklahoma, Missouri, southern Illinois to northern Indiana and eastward to New York. See individual range maps for species in the complex.

Habitat

These terrestrial salamanders inhabit most woodland habitats, but are especially common in shaded hardwood forests where they occur beneath logs or under leaf litter. These species are occasionally found in pine woods in the vicinity of hardwood bottomlands, gum swamps or cypress ponds. Even when found in pine woods, these salamanders appear to have an affinity for hardwood logs and stumps over the pine.

Special Requirements

Slimy Salamanders require shaded woodlands, usually hardwoods but occasionally pineland areas in the vicinity of bottomlands, with fallen logs, leaf litter, and an organic soil layer.

Breeding Habits

Little is known of the breeding habits. In the Coastal Plain, courtship and breeding probably occur in the fall and eggs are deposited in summer or fall (Martof and others 1980). In the mountains, reproduction may occur every other year. Eggs are deposited terrestrially under logs or litter. The female apparently remains with the eggs until hatching. Hatchlings are miniature replicas of the adult.

Food Habits

These large salamanders forage at night on the surface or within their burrows, capturing arthropods and worms.

Management Suggestions

Habitat for these species should include logs in various stages of decay as well as a well developed leaf litter humus. Some canopy closure is necessary to prevent excessive drying of the forest floor.

Remarks

Highton and others (1989) recently subdivided P. glutinosus into many species. The natural history/ecology of each of the newly described species has not been adequately researched. To date very few ecological/habitat differences have been described among them.

Additional References

Bishop 1943; Conant and Collins 1991; Highton and Henry 1970; Huntington and others 1993; Neill 1948b.

Additional Distribution Maps

Western Slimy Salamander

Chattahoochee Slimy Salamander

Atlantic Coast Slimy Salamander

White-spotted Slimy Salamander

Northern Slimy Salamander

Southeastern Slimy Salamander

Kiamichi Slimy Salamander

Louisiana Slimy Salamander

Mississippi Slimy Salamander

Ocmulgee Slimy Salamander

Savannah Slimy Salamander

Sequoyah Slimy Salamander

South Carolina Slimy Salamander