Marbled Salamander Salamanders Arkansas

Color a midnight blue with bold broad silvery white crossbands often forming the appearance of inverse circles.

Marbled salamander salamanders arkansas. Adults can grow to about 11 cm 4 in small compared to other members of its genus. A small stout bodied salamander measuring 3 4 5 inches with distinct light crossbands across a dark back. This species is sexually dimorphic males tend to have white crossbands and females tend to have gray silvery crossbands. The marbled salamander is a stocky boldly banded salamander.

The mission of this website is to distribute and share knowledge regarding the naturally occurring reptiles and amphibians of arkansas. Plethodontidae lungless salamanders genera. The bands are variable in size and shape and may be incomplete. They can live between11 14 years if properly cared for.

Marbled salamanders grow to about 3 5 4 25 in 9 10 7 cm in size and are stout bodied and chubby in appearance. Like most of the mole salamanders it is secretive spending most of its life under logs or in burrows. Marbled salamanders are part of the mole salamander family which is a group of salamanders endemic to north america and the only genus in the. The marbled salamander is a relatively common resident throughout north carolina.

Marbled salamander in boone county. They can be identified by their black dark brown body including its venter with light white silvery crossbands on the dorsum. The marbled salamander is typically found in floodplains and low lying fertile areas dominated by hardwood trees. They typically grow to about 4 inches long.

Desmognathus dusky salamanders eurycea brook salamanders hemidactylium four toed salamanders and plethodon woodland. Marbled salamander ambystoma opacum. Herps of arkansas frogs and salamanders alligator lizards snakes and turtles. It gets its name from the white or silver bands that cover the black bodies of adult salamanders.

Marbled salamanders are black with white splotches and bands giving them a marbled appearance. The bands of females tend to be gray while those of males are more white. Sporting white or gray bands across its body this secretive species is known to hide out beneath leaves and logs. Like other mole salamanders marbled salamanders are predators of smaller creatures but though they are voracious predators of insects worms and slugs they along with their eggs and juvenile forms provide food for many other hungry animals.

Adult marbled salamanders maintained on a low food diet were more prone to bite an intruding salamander than those on a high food diet ducey and heuer 1991 which may indicate that aggression functions to repel an intruder from an individual s feeding area burrow refuge.