Salamander Identification Guide

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Salamander Identification Guide

• Citizen Monitoring of Wisconsins Salamanders
• by
• Wisconsin Audubon Chapters
• Randy Korb, Project Director
• Training Guides by Mary Linton

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This guide will help you identify Wisconsins
salamanders. Two other guides are also
available a guide to Wisconsins frogs, toads,
and treefrogs, and a guide to the Protocols for
the citizen salamander monitoring project.
The guides are in PowerPoint, a presentation
software made by Microsoft. You move through the
guide by clicking your mouse or touchpad until
you see THE END.
There are many other good resources available,
and we will list some good sources at the end of
this guide.
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Purpose of this Project

• Wisconsin has a long-term and successful
  monitoring program for frogs, toads and tree
  frogs, the members of the Class Amphibia that
  have males that call during mating . They use
  the calls of these amphibians to verify their
  presence in habitats all over the state.
• Salamanders, the other large group of the Class
  Amphibia, dont make mating calls, so cannot be
  monitored simply. This project seeks to begin a
  systematic monitoring of salamanders that will
  add to what is already known about their
  populations in Wisconsin. In specific, your
  efforts will help verify distributions of
  salamanders and fill the large gaps of knowledge
  in areas where salamander surveys have not been
  conducted.
• The data you collect will help preserve and
  protect Wisconsins salamanders.

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Amphibians come in two types
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Wisconsins 6 salamander species exhibit the full
range of Amphibian life cycles

• Mole salamanders in the Family Ambystomatidae
  breed in water, larvae are aquatic and adults are
  terrestrial. 3 species.
• Newts in the Family Salamandridae breed in
  water, adults are aquatic, there are 2 sub adult
  stages first an aquatic larva and then a
  terrestrial juvenile called an eft. 1 species.
• Lungless Salamanders in the family
  Plethodontidae 2 species in Wisconsin both
  with terrestrial adults, but one also has
  terrestrial larvae, while the other has aquatic
  larvae.
• Mudpuppies in the Family Proteidae All life
  stages are aquatic. 1 species

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Here are important characteristics for
identifying adults of Wisconsins 5 salamander
species
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None here, but
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2. Is the body robust or is it slender?
Robust here but
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Plenty here but
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Family AmbystomatidaeMole Salamanders
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A Typical Mole Salamander Life Cycle
Mole salamanders are among the first
amphibians to breed in the spring. They rise
from their underground overwintering sites and
head to their breeding ponds typically an
ephemeral pond, or one that fills in late fall or
early spring, then dries in late summer or fall.
Mole salamanders can successfully breed here
because ephemeral ponds lack vertebrate
predators.
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Tiger Salamander Ambystoma tigrinum
rbnc.org
Very hefty. Sturdy legs make tiger salamanders
better than other sala- manders at land travel.
Black background with variable yellow marks on
head, body and tail.
Five hind toes
Our largest land salamander 7 to13 inches in
length and stocky. They have deep coastal
grooves and live in rodent burrows as adults.
Adults and larvae are voracious predators.
Adults have even been known to eat rodents.
Tiger salamander adults live in woods,
grass- lands and farmers pastures. Thats why
they are often found in basement window wells.
Tigers breed in ephemeral ponds, permanent
ponds, even farm ponds.
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Spotted Salamander Ambystoma maculatum
Not as stocky as Tigers, but still robust.
Black background with 2 irregular rows of yellow
spots running down head and body. Head spots may
be orange.
Another groovy species
Five toes on hind foot
Our second-largest salamander - 4 to 8 inches.
Adults like closed canopy woods with lots of
brush. Spotted salamanders breed in ephemeral
ponds. Eggs are laid in a solid gelatinous mass
attached to twigs or vegetation. The eggs may
have a greenish tinge due to an alga that lives
in the gelatinous coating.
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Blue-spotted Salamander Ambystoma
laterale
The third groovy species
Still not slender
Dark body flecked with many blue or white spots.
Five toes on hind feet
The smallest Ambystoma salamander 3 to 6 inches
in length. Blue-spots can secrete a milky white
substance when handled, making them very
slippery. Take time to get a good hold. The
adults live in wooded areas and breed in
ephemeral ponds.
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As you can tell by the previous slide, Blue-spot
color patterns do vary. Part of this
variation is due to the fact that blue-spots have
hybridized with other Ambystoma species.
These hybrids are ancient lines of salamanders
that are entirely female and produce
offspring from unfertilized eggs. The hybrids
can be found wherever blue-spots are found and
there is no way to distinguish them in the field.
They can only be told apart by examining
their chromosomes. So, if a salamander looks
like a blue-spot, record it as a blue-spot.
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Family SalamandridaeNewts
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The central newt life cycle is more complicated
than that of the Mole salamanders The adults are
usually found in water (1), but can easily
survive on land (1). In fact, they hibernate on
land and migrate from pond to pond.
The 2nd juvenile stage is the terrestrial Eft
(5). This Is the only stage you wont
catch in a minnow trap.
Newts do breed in water. Could be in Spring
or Fall.
The eggs (2) are laid on submerged vegetation In
the spring. The aquatic larva (3) hatches and
grows through summer until it is ready
metamorphose (4).
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Central Newt a subspecies of the Eastern Newt
Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis
No coastal grooves
Light-colored body flecked with dark spots. Rare
large spots with light interior. Note whitish
belly
Still robust
Five toes on hind feet (really!)
Eft, terrestrial juvenile
Aquatic larva
The central newt is a small salamander 2 to 4
inches in length. Its skin is rough and well
covered with toxic skin glands. The terrestrial
adult tends to be darker than the aquatic adult
above. They breed in ponds with good vegetation,
so often found in permanent ponds.
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OK. If you know the four we have covered so far,
you will be in great shape for your sampling
season.
But here are the rest, just in case!
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Family PlethodontidaeLungless Salamanders
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Four-toed Salamander Hemidactylium scutatum
Greeenish- Brown back with black mottling
Slender
4 toes on hind foot
White belly
Also called the bog salamander because it nests
in the sphagnum on the surface of bogs. When the
larvae hatch, they wriggle through the moss to
the water, grow, then return to the forests as
adults. This is a small salamander 3 to 4
inches and very hard to find. Adults mate on
land only the small larva is truly aquatic.
Notice the crimp at the start of the tail. They
can jettison their tail if being attacked from
behind. If anyone finds one of these we will have
a party.
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Red-backed Salamander Plethodon cinereus
5 toes on hind foot
Slender
Red strip on back
Sides and belly brown-gray with white specks
Red-backs actually exhibit some color variation.
The ones with no red stripe on the back
are sometimes called lead-backs. This is a
completely terrestrial salamander females nest
with, and protect their eggs. When the eggs
hatch, the tiny larvae have gill buds for a short
time, Then lose the bids and look like tiny
adults. Red-backs live in rich woodlands with
rotting downed logs where they live and nest.
Obviously, these salamanders will not appear in
our minnow traps.
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Family ProteidaeMudpuppies
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Mudpuppy Necturus maculosus
All stages of life cycle are found in lakes
and rivers.
Bright red gills
4 toes on the hind feet
Mudpuppies exhibit something called Neotony, or
the condition of becoming an adult In the same
form as the larva. In this case a large larva
at 12-16 inches in length the Mudpuppy is our
largest salamander. Some people consider
mudpuppies trash critters. They are not
poisonous, and in fact are great aquatic
citizens. They are the host to the Salamander
mussel, an endangered species in Wisconsin.
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How about salamander larvae?
Blue-spotted Salamander
Its very hard to tell the Ambystoma salamander
larvae apart when they are young.
Spotted Salamander
They look very different from Central Newt
larvae. If you collect a larva with 5 toes on
hind feet, lots of speckles except on the throat,
and no dark line through the eye, call it an
Ambystoma larva.
Tiger Salamander
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If you find a SMALL larva with no coastal grooves
(or they are faint), no membranous fin that runs
up over the back, and a dark line through
the eye, record it as a Central Newt larva,
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Larvae of the species you are unlikely to
encounter
Mudpuppy larvae are found in lakes and rivers.
They have 4 toes on the hind feet, are striped,
have a dorsal fin only on the tail, and lovely
red gills.
4-toed salamander larvae also only have 4 toes
on the hind feet, a dorsal fin over the tail and
body, and a dark line through the eye (really).
They are found in bog ponds.
.
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Wisconsins salamanders are not evenly
distributed across the state. You can discover
what has previously been found in your area by
checking the Wisconsin Herp Atlas. It can be
found on-line at www.uwm.edu/dept/fieldstation/h
erpetology/atlas/atlas.html Why not take some
time to check the atlas out now?
----- first click on the hotlink above.
------when the Herp Atlas home page appears,
click on Species Accounts, then on a
species from the list on the left margin. Make
special note of the species not strongly
represented in your area.
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Feel free to review this presentation as often as
you wish.
Here are some other great resources Books
Amphibians of Wisconsin by Rebecca Christoffel,
Robert Hay and Michelle Wolfgram. can be viewed
or purchased on-line at http//dnr.wi.gov/org/la
nd/er/herps/amphibians A Field Guide to
Amphibian Larvae and Eggs of Minnesota,
Wisconsin, and Iowa by Jeffrey R.
Parmalee, Melinda G. Knutson, and James E.
Lyon can be ordered from the US Geological
Survey (1-800-553-6847 or 703-487-4650 or
contact the author at melissa_knutson_at_fws.gov).
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Great Lakes
Region by James H. Harding. -available from
Amazon, or ordered from your favorite local
bookstore.
Websites EEK (Environmental Education for
Kids) by the Wisconsin DNR http//dnr.wi.gov/e
ek
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The End
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