Apalachicola Dusky Salamander

Range

The Apalachicola Dusky salamander is endemic to Alabama, Florida and Georgia in the southeastern United States.

Habitats

The Apalachicola Dusky salamander can be found in temperate forests, intermittent rivers and freshwater springs. These animals are present all year round( but larvae is present from mid-summer to March)and you have to look beneath rocks, logs or leave litter during the day to find them. They feed on insects and breed twice in a year.

Identification

They are about 4 inches in length and are generally brownish to gray. The Apalachicola dusky salamander is a semi-aquatic salamander with a highly variable pattern. Old males are uniformly brown with a pale belly and traces of dark pigment. There are usually 5-7 pairs of pale, rounded, dark-edged and often coalescing spots on its back. They have a diagonal line below each eye and the front legs are shorter than the rear. Its tail accounts for more than half its body length and also they possess gills for breathing underwater. The juveniles have tiny silvery gills and bright dorsal blotches. At sexual maturity, the male Apalachicola Dusky Salamander has two lobes/testis measured 40 mm while the reproductive organs of the females are measured at 33.0 mm.

Learn more with Schechter Natural History's Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians