Seal salamander

The seal salamander (Desmognathus monticola) is a species of lungless salamander that is endemic to the Eastern United States.

Seal salamander

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Plethodontidae
Subfamily: Plethodontinae
Genus: Desmognathus
Species:
D. monticola
Binomial name
Desmognathus monticola
Dunn, 1916
Synonyms
  • Desmognathus phoca — Bishop, 1943

Distribution

The seal salamander can be found from southwestern Pennsylvania and south through Appalachian Mountains areas of high elevation in West Virginia, western Maryland, western and northern Virginia, eastern Kentucky, western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western South Carolina, and northern Georgia to central Alabama. There are also disjunctive populations in southern Alabama as well as at the very western end of the Florida panhandle. In the north of its range, it has not been observed north or west of the Ohio River.[1]

Its habitat includes rocky mountain streams, spring-fed brooks in the ravines of deciduous forests, muddy sections of streams and seepages. The total adult population size of the species is assumed to exceed 100,000.

An introduced population is present in Benton County, Arkansas.[2]

References
  1. Geoffrey Hammerson (2004). "Desmognathus monticola". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2004: e.T59252A11906743. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T59252A11906743.en.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  2. http://www.snakesofarkansas.com/Main/DesmognathusMonticola

Further reading
  • Dunn ER. 1916. "Two New Salamanders of the Genus Desmognathus ". Proc. Biol Soc. Washington 29: 73–76. (Desmognathus monticola, new species, pp. 73–74).


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