The northern gray-cheeked salamander (''Plethodon montanus'') is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae and endemic to the Blue Ridge Mountains and Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. It is closely related to the Red-cheeked salamander and the

Red-legged salamander The red-legged salamander (''Plethodon shermani'') is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. Formerly considered a subspecies of '' Plethodon jordani'', it is native to the mountain forests of the southeastern United States. Des ...

. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. It is found under moss, rocks, logs, and bark in cool, moist forests above 2500 feet. Especially found in spruce-fir forests. The Gray-cheeked Salamander commonly eats millipedes, earthworms,

crane flies Crane fly is a common name referring to any member of the insect family Tipulidae. Cylindrotominae, Limoniinae, and Pediciinae have been ranked as subfamilies of Tipulidae by most authors, though occasionally elevated to family rank. In the most ...

, spiders, and

centipede Centipedes (from New Latin , "hundred", and Latin , " foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', lip, and New Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, an ...

s and less commonly eats ants,

mites Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

, and springtails. They eat spiders, moths, flies, beetles, bees, and snails. The male and female perform a courtship, where the male nudges the female with his snout, does a foot dance, then circles under the female and the two then walk together. Like other salamanders, they do not migrate or aggregate during breeding season. Copeia., vol. 107, no. 4, 2019, pp. 622–31. Retrieved March 16, 2023 It is threatened by habitat loss.

References

Plethodon Amphibians of the United States Amphibians described in 2000 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Plethodontidae-stub