The three-lined salamander (''Eurycea guttolineata'') is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the south-eastern United States. Like other Plethodontidae species, ''E. guttolineata'' captures prey via tongue projection.

Description

''Eurycea guttolineata'' is a mid-sized, slender stream salamander which ranges from about 10-15.9 cm in its adult form. It is tan to light yellow with three black longitudinal stripes running from the eyes down the length of the body to the tail. The tail is very long at approximately two-thirds its total body length. Additionally, the ventrum (belly) of the three-lined salamander is boldly marked with black and white marbling.

Reproduction

Hatchlings are generally around 10-13 mm and undergo metamorphosis when they are 22-27 mm snout-to-vent length. This is typically a 4-6 month larval stage. The effects that elevation has on larval stages have been studied extensively showing that at lower elevations larvae metamorphosized sooner than those at higher elevations which had delayed metamorphosis mostly due to overwintering. Due to this species being a semi-aquatic salamander in the Plethodontidae family, the females will enter cooler waters in late autumn and winter to drop eggs.

Distribution

The species is distributed throughout much of the southeastern United States. It can be found in the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia and Tennessee south through the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the Gulf Coast, including eastern Louisiana and western Florida.

Habitat

Its natural habitats are forested

floodplains A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

, ditches, streamsides, and seepages. With wet weather, the species may enter wooded terrestrial habitats. It is not uncommon in suitable habitat. Some subpopulations have likely been extirpated by loss of bottomland hardwood forests.

Feeding Behavior

Three-lined Salamanders feed on a variety of invertebrates including snails, snail eggs, arachnids, millipedes, annelids, nematodes, and many insects. Larvae are thought to feed on small invertebrates, but there have not been any detailed studies on their stomach content or foraging behavior. A study researching the effects of temperature showed that elastically powered tongue-projection performance is maintained to a higher degree than muscle-powered tongue retraction performance across a wide temperature range.

References

Eurycea Endemic amphibians of the United States Fauna of the Southeastern United States Ecology of the Appalachian Mountains Natural history of Alabama Natural history of Louisiana Natural history of South Carolina Taxa named by John Edwards Holbrook Amphibians described in 1838 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Plethodontidae-stub