Marbled Salamander Education

Mike marchand photo adult marbled salamanders are dark stout salamanders with gray crossbands.

Marbled salamander education.

Like all amphibians they require water to complete their life cycle surviving dry times by burrowing deep into the soil. The marbled salamander ambystoma opacum is one of the more commonly found mole salamanders on military installations. Females lay their eggs near a pond curl protectively around them then wait until rains make the pond. Family ambystomatidae the mole salamanders spend much of the year in the soil or under rocks or logs.

The marbled salamander is a stocky boldly banded salamander. Crossbands may be complete or incomplete. Most larvae transform into the adult form by late summer. Adults can grow to about 11 cm 4 in small compared to other members of its genus.

Marbled salamanders are found throughout the eastern us but are absent from se georgia peninsular fl the higher elevations of the appalachians. The bands of females tend to be gray while those of males are more white. The latin word opacum means shaded dark obscure or dim and refers to the adult dorsal color. Habitat marbled salamanders share much of the same old growth deciduous forest habitat with spotted salamanders but are seasonally differentiated by breeding in the fall opposed to spotted salamanders which breed in the winter and early spring.

One reason is that they are nocturnal active at night and hide by day under vegetation and rotten logs. This young marbled salamander is beginning to show the light colored crossbands across its back. Survivorship of marbled salamander adults and recently metamorphosed animals was low in 100 m2 enclosures in clearcuts compared to enclosures in adjacent forests p. The marbled salamander is a lizard like amphibian that is seldom seen by people.

Unlike many of its close relatives this salamander breeds in the autumn instead of early spring and on land instead of in water. It is unlawful for any person to take or have in possession any nongame mammal or bird unless that person has a collection license or is collecting fewer than 5 reptiles or fewer than 25 amphibians that are not endangered threatened or special concerned species. Jefferson salamander ambystoma jeffersonianum state threatened blue spotted salamander ambystoma laterale spotted salamander ambystoma maculatum marbled salamander ambystoma opacum silvery. As marbled salamander breeding season begins residents are encouraged to implement precautions to prevent accidental salamander mortalities at in ground swimming pools and to report their sightings of a state.