Marbled Salamander Salamanders Arkansas

Marbled salamander in boone county.

Marbled salamander salamanders arkansas.

The marbled salamander is a relatively common resident throughout north carolina. Larvae are easily confused with spotted blue spotted and jefferson salamanders. Marbled salamander ambystoma opacum. The marbled salamander is typically found in floodplains and low lying fertile areas dominated by hardwood trees.

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. It gets its name from the white or silver bands that cover the black bodies of adult salamanders. The mission of this website is to distribute and share knowledge regarding the naturally occurring reptiles and amphibians of arkansas. Like most of the mole salamanders it is secretive spending most of its life under logs or in burrows.

Adults are easily distinguished from other species. The marbled salamander is a stocky boldly banded salamander. Plethodontidae lungless salamanders genera. The marbled salamander ambystoma opacum also called the banded salamander is a member of the mole salamander family.

Marbled salamanders are black with white splotches and bands giving them a marbled appearance. Desmognathus dusky salamanders eurycea brook salamanders hemidactylium four toed salamanders and plethodon woodland. This species is sexually dimorphic males tend to have white crossbands and females tend to have gray silvery crossbands. Color a midnight blue with bold broad silvery white crossbands often forming the appearance of inverse circles.

Sporting white or gray bands across its body this secretive species is known to hide out beneath leaves and logs. Herps of arkansas frogs and salamanders alligator lizards snakes and turtles. 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. They can be identified by their black dark brown body including its venter with light white silvery crossbands on the dorsum.

Adults can grow to about 11 cm 4 in small compared to other members of its genus. The bands of females tend to be gray while those of males are more white. A small stout bodied salamander measuring 3 4 5 inches with distinct light crossbands across a dark back. 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.

The bands are variable in size and shape and may be incomplete.