Dwarf salamander

Dwarf salamander
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Caudata
Family: Plethodontidae
Genus: Eurycea
Species: E. quadridigitata
Binomial name
Eurycea quadridigitata
Holbrook, 1842
Synonyms

Salamandra quadridigitata
Holbrook, 1842
Batrachoseps quadridigitata
Baird, 1850
Manculus quadridigitatus
Cope, 1869
Manculus remifer
Cope, 1871

The dwarf salamander (Eurycea quadridigitata) is a species of salamander native to the southern United States, from North Carolina to Oklahoma, south to Texas along the Gulf of Mexico states to northern Florida. Some sources refer to it as the four-fingered manculus, dwarf four-toed salamander, or the Florida dwarf salamander.

Description

The dwarf salamander grows from 2.0 to 3.5 inches in length. It has a slender body and a long tail. It is typically yellow-brown in color with darker brown blotching and dark stripes down each side, but the pattern and coloration can vary widely. The epithet quadridigitatat is to denote that each of its feet has four toes.

Behavior

The dwarf salamander prefers habitats of swampy pine woods. It is nocturnal and spends most of its time under leaf litter or forest floor debris. Breeding occurs in the fall, with 12 to 48 eggs being laid singly or in small clutches attached to submerged debris in shallow, slow moving or still water.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.