The valley and ridge salamander (''Plethodon hoffmani'') 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 ...

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

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 the eastern United States.

Etymology

The species is named after biologist Richard Hoffman of Virginia, who collected the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

specimen in 1954.

Description

The valley and ridge salamander is a terrestrial salamander which a total length of . This species is slender with short legs, a long tail, and 21 costal grooves. The dorsum is dark brown to blackish with scattered whitish or brassy flecks and the venter is dark with mottling, especially on the chin.

Distribution

The natural habitat of the valley and ridge salamander is

hardwood forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These for ...

s of the

valley and ridge province The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending ...

of the

, up to in elevation. This species can be found in the Appalachians from the

Susquehanna River Valley The Susquehanna Valley is a region of low-lying land that borders the Susquehanna River in the U.S. states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The valley consists of areas that lie along the main branch of the river, which flows from Ups ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, south to the New River in northwestern

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 ...

, eastern

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, and western

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Ecology

The species occurs in terrestrial valley and ridge physiography, generally in mature hardwood forests with well-drained soils. It lays eggs in moist cavities, where they develop directly without a larval stage. Individuals can be found under logs and rocks and tolerate cool weather well. In wet weather, they forage in leaf litter and as the surface dries, retreat to damp covered areas. They tend to be found on slightly drier slopes than their close relative, the

red-backed salamander The red-backed salamander (''Plethodon cinereus'') is a small, hardy woodland salamander species in the family Plethodontidae. It is also known as the redback salamander, eastern red-backed salamander,Integrated Taxonomic Information System nter ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2511231 Plethodon Ecology of the Appalachian Mountains Salamander, Valley and Ridge Fauna of the Northeastern United States Fauna of the Southeastern United States Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Amphibians described in 1971