Valley and Ridge Salamander

Plethodon hoffmani

Valley and Ridge Salamander

VRSA

Status

The Valley and Ridge Salamander is common throughout its range.

Description

Plethodon hoffmani is a slender, medium-sized (9–13.7 cm) salamander with short legs, a long tail, and usually 21 costal grooves. The dorsum is dark brown to black with scattered white or brassy flecks. The venter is dark with white mottling, especially on the chin (Martof and others 1980). Some specimens near the Virginia-West Virginia border have a narrow, dorsal red stripe.

Distribution

This salamander is found in the Valley and Ridge physiographic province from the Susquehanna River Valley in west-central Pennsylvania, south to the New River in Virginia and West Virginia.

Habitat

The Valley and Ridge Salamander inhabits forested habitats in the upper Valley and Ridge province, where it is found under flat rocks and logs. It is apparently tolerant of cool temperatures and is most active in late winter and early spring. They disappear deep underground during the hotter summer months only to reappear near the surface during early fall.

Special Requirements

This salamander requires moist forests with abundant rocks and logs.

Breeding Habits

Reproductive information is scant on this species, but it has direct development (larvae develop within the egg directly into miniature adults) and females attend the eggs until hatching.

Food Habits

Their diet consists of small invertebrates, primarily insects.

Management Suggestions

Management practices which disturb the surface, such as heavy site preparation, should be avoided. As with most small terrestrial salamanders, they require a forest canopy to provide moist microhabitat on the forest floor. Large scale disturbances within such forested habitats would be detrimental to most small salamanders.

Additional References

Highton 1986e; Martof and others 1980; Conant and Collins 1991.