The blackbelly salamander (''Desmognathus quadramaculatus'') is a species of

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten ...

in the family

Plethodontidae Plethodontidae, or lungless salamanders, are a family of salamanders. Most species are native to the Western Hemisphere, from British Columbia to Brazil, although a few species are found in Sardinia, Europe south of the Alps, and South Korea. In ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the United States. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

s, intermittent rivers, and freshwater

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

s. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Description

The blackbelly salamander is a medium-sized salamander growing to about long. It is sturdily built with a long tail. The ground colour is dark brown or black with two rows of small pale spots along each side of the back. The underside is usually black but may have pale flecks in young individuals. They are highly variable in color, with the ground color ranging from a light gray to deep black. Their color has been recorded in one study to be related to their habitat. Populations that are only a few meters away can have drastic differences phenotypically, depending on the habitat differences. This study showed that two populations in the same stream were vastly different in color. This could be related to the amount in shade, leaf litter, and rock color of their habitat.

Distribution and habitat

The blackbelly salamander is found in the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

in southeastern United States. Its range extends from West Virginia, through southeastern Virginia, eastern Tennessee, western North and South Carolina, and northern Georgia. It is a largely aquatic species and lives in cold mountain streams at heights of above sea level.

Behaviour

The blackbelly salamander spends more time in water than all other members of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

except the

shovelnose salamander The shovelnose salamander (''Desmognathus marmoratus'') is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the United States. Taxonomy The golden shovel-nosed salamander (''D. aureatus'') and black shovel-nosed salaman ...

(''Desmognathus marmoratus''). It mainly forages on land and has a home range of at least 1,200 square centimetres (190 square inches) but seldom travels more than from the stream. In this home range it has one or more refugia, crevices in the rock or burrow entrances in which it can conceal itself, ambushing small

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s as they pass by. Their diet shifts throughout the different stages of their life. During their larval stage they prey mostly on insect nymphs, when juveniles they will eat a mixture of aquatic and aerial prey, and when they are adults they eat aquatic, aerial, and terrestrial prey including other salamanders. It defends these refugia against other members of its own species. Breeding takes place in the late spring. The female attaches fifteen to forty

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

to the base of submerged boulders. The eggs hatch in about three months and the larvae develop slowly, undergoing metamorphosis into juvenile salamanders about three and a half years later.

Ecology

Several other species of salamander occupy the same range as the blackbelly salamander. These include the

dusky salamander ''Desmognathus'' is a genus of lungless salamanders in the family Plethodontidae known as dusky salamanders. They range from Texas to the eastern United States and to south-eastern Canada. Characteristics Species of the genus ''Desmognathus'' ...

(''Desmognathus fuscus''), the

Allegheny Mountain dusky salamander The Allegheny Mountain dusky salamander (''Desmognathus ochrophaeus'') is a species in the Plethodontidae (lungless salamander) family. It is found in the eastern United States, in the Niagara Glen Nature Reserve adjacent to the lower Niagara Riv ...

(''Desmognathus ochrophaeus''), and the

seal salamander The seal salamander (''Desmognathus monticola'') is a species of lungless salamander that is endemic to the Eastern United States. Distribution and habitat The seal salamander can be found from southwestern Pennsylvania and south through Appala ...

(''Desmognathus monticola''). Blackbelly and seal salamanders seem to actively avoid each other and it is possible that they use chemical cues to avoid coming into contact. They are sometimes attacked by

garter snake Garter snake is a common name for generally harmless, small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus ''Thamnophis'' in the family Colubridae. Native to North and Central America, species in the genus ''Thamnophis'' can be found from the sub ...

s (''Thamnophis'' sp.). The blackbelly salamander's defence strategies include its warning colouration (though it is not in fact toxic), remaining still in the hope a predator will fail to notice it, biting the aggressor, and shedding its tail (

autotomy Autotomy (from the Greek language, Greek ''auto-'', "self-" and ''tome'', "severing", wikt:αὐτοτομία, αὐτοτομία) or self-amputation, is the behaviour whereby an animal sheds or discards one or more of its own appendages, usual ...

) as a distraction. Biting was successful against garter snakes and was also used against shrews.

Status

The

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

lists the blackbelly salamander as being of "

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

". The reasons given are that the population seems stable with an estimated number of at least 10,000 individuals. It might decline in some localities if streams become acidic as a result of mining activities, and in some places, fishermen capture it for use as bait.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2212116 Desmognathus Amphibians described in 1840 Amphibians of the United States Endemic fauna of the United States Taxonomy articles created by Polbot