The shovelnose salamander (''Desmognathus marmoratus'') 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.

Taxonomy

The golden shovel-nosed salamander (''D. aureatus'') and black shovel-nosed salamander (''D. melanius'') were both described in 1956, then synonymized with ''D. marmoratus'', but later revived as distinct species in 2009. However, their distinctiveness was quantified using

mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA ...

; due to heavy mtDNA introgression between ''Desmognathus'' species being a major problem with delineating their taxonomy, both species are not recognized by other taxonomic authorities. However, they are provisionally recognized by

Darrel Frost Darrel Richmond Frost (born 1951) is an American herpetologist and systematist. He was previously head curator of herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History, as well as president of both the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Repti ...

unless proper counter-evidence is released.

Description

The shovelnose salamander is a robust species, broad with a relatively short tail. It receives its name from the shape of its snout which is more square ended than as seen in other salamanders in its genus. The colour is a dusky brown, grey or black with two longitudinal rows of paler small patches and many smaller pale speckles. The underside is usually grey.

Distribution and habitat

The shovelnose 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 at above sea level. It is (provisionally) thought to range from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

south through

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. Populations in Tennessee and Georgia are thought to belong to ''D. aureatus'' and ''D. melanius'', although this is still debated. It is found in shallow, flowing water, rapids and riffles on gravel and rocky substrates, but is not found in silted streams.

Behaviour

The shovelnose salamander is an aquatic species, living and feeding in moderately fast-flowing streams. Although it shares its range with the

blackbelly salamander The blackbelly salamander (''Desmognathus quadramaculatus'') is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the United States. Its natural habitats are rivers, intermittent rivers, and freshwater springs. It is threaten ...

(''Desmognathus quadramaculatus''), the two species come into contact little, because the blackbelly mostly lies half out of the water and forages on land. The shovelnose salamander does not have a fixed home range nor exhibit territorial behaviour as does the blackbelly. Breeding takes place in late spring and early summer. The female attaches eggs singly or in small clumps to the underside of a rock in moving water. The eggs hatch after about eleven weeks and the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e hide among the gravel particles and feed on aquatic

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. They undergo

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...

into adults at two to three years of age and mature at about five.

Status

The shovelnose salamander is listed 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 ...

" by 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 ...

. This is because it is presumed to have a large population and any decline in numbers is slow. It is affected by silting of the streams in which it lives through logging, agriculture and impoundment but occurs in a number of protected areas. Numbers are also reduced by its use by fishermen as bait.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1594350 Desmognathus Amphibians described in 1899 Amphibians of the United States Endemic fauna of the United States Taxonomy articles created by Polbot