Mud Salamander

Pseudotriton montanus

Mud Salamander

MDSA

Status

The Mud Salamander is uncommon or secretive throughout its range. The Gulf Coast subspecies (Pseudotriton m. flavissimus) is state-listed as a species of undetermined status in South Carolina.

Reasons for Current Status

The Gulf Coast Mud Salamander reaches the northeastern-most limits of its known range in South Carolina, and thus is a peripheral subspecies. Several known localities in the state have been destroyed and the natural history of this subspecies is poorly understood (Harrison and others 1979).

Description

The Mud Salamander is of moderate size (7.3–19.5 cm) with black dorsal spots, which are generally small and well separated on a coral pink, bright red, or brownish background. Four subspecies have been described: P. m. montanus, P. m. flavissimus, P. m. diastictus, and P. m. floridanus. Bruce (1968) and Martof (1975) questioned the use of these geographic subdivisions and did not use trinomials for P. montanus.

Distribution

This salamander inhabits the Gulf Coastal Plain from the eastern tip of Louisiana to central Florida, and occurs northward in the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Piedmont of eastern Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and in the Coastal Plain only of Maryland and southern New Jersey. West of the Appalachians, this species occurs in eastern Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia.

Habitat

The Mud Salamander is primarily restricted to muddy springs, sluggish flood plain streams, and swampy forested areas. It is often found on hardwood slopes of a floodplain, as well as around backwater ponds and marshes created by beaver activity. Individuals are usually encountered in brown-black muck beneath logs and rocks, in decaying clumps of vegetation, or along ponds or stream banks in burrrows which lead to water-filled chambers (Martof 1975).

Breeding Habits

Courtship and breeding occur in the fall, with egg deposition taking place in December. The eggs hatch in late winter, usually February. Larvae transform in about a year and a half, with sexual maturity reached in three years for males and four years for females.

Food Habits

These semi-fossorial salamanders are opportunistic feeders, with a diet consisting primarily of earthworms and arthropods.

Management Suggestions

Wetland areas, particularly swamps, should not be drained or significantly altered by development. More life history information on this species is necessary in order to assess the proper management practices.

Remarks

The taxonomic status of the subspecies is presently questioned. Further comparative studies are needed to evaluate the proposed forms. Mud salamanders spend much of their life burrowed in muck or mud, making them rather elusive and their presence in an area difficult to ascertain.

Additional References

Bruce 1969, 1974, 1975; Conant and Collins 1991; Neill 1948a; Robinson and Reichard 1965.