Northern slimy salamander

{{Speciesbox

| image = Plethodon glutonosus.jpg

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group |date=2014 |title=Plethodon glutinosus |volume=2014 |page=e.T59340A56365349 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T59340A56365349.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}

| taxon = Plethodon glutinosus

| authority = (Green, 1818)

| synonyms =

Salamandra glutinosa
{{small|Green, 1818}}
Cylindrosoma glutinosum
{{small|— A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron &
A.H.A. Duméril, 1854}}
Plethodon variolosum
{{small|A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron &
A.H.A. Duméril, 1854}}
Salamandra elongata
{{small|A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron &
A.H.A. Duméril, 1854}}
Salamandra melanoleuca
{{small|Wied-Neuwied, 1865}}
Amblystoma melanoleuca
{{small|— Boulenger, 1882}}

}}

The northern slimy salamander (Plethodon glutinosus) is a species of terrestrial plethodontid salamander found throughout much of the eastern two-thirds of the United States.

Common names

The northern slimy salamander is called "slimy" because it produces sticky slime from glands on its lower back and tail in order to defend itself from predators.{{cite web |title=Amphibian Species of the World 6.0 |url=http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/Amphibia/Caudata/Plethodontidae/Plethodontinae/Plethodon/Plethodon-glutinosus |publisher=AMNH |access-date=21 October 2019}} It is also sometimes referred to as the viscid salamander, grey-spotted salamander, slippery salamander, or sticky salamander, depending on which source is consulted.{{cite web |title=Amphibian Species of the World 6.0 |url=http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/Amphibia/Caudata/Plethodontidae/Plethodontinae/Plethodon/Plethodon-glutinosus |publisher=AMNH |access-date=21 October 2019}}

Description

The northern slimy salamander is typically an overall black in color, with numerous silvery spots or gold spots across its back. It is usually {{convert|12|-|17|cm|in|abbr=on}} in total length (including tail), but can grow to 20.6 cm (8.1 in).Conant, Roger (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xviii + 429 pp. + Plates 1-48. {{ISBN|0-395-19979-4}} (hardcover), {{ISBN|0-395-19977-8}} (paperback). (Plethodon glutinosus, pp. 276-277 + Plate 41 + Map 230). Males are not easily distinguished from females, though females tend to be slightly larger.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} It has 15-17 costal grooves.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

Taxonomy

P. glutinosus is one of 57 species in the genus Plethodon and was one of the first of its cogeners to be described. The Northern Slimy Salamander is one of 14 species within the Plethodon glutinosus complex. Species within this complex are very similar but vary in habitat range, body size, shape, and proportions.{{cite journal |last1=Carr |first1=David |title=Morphological Variation among Species and Populations of Salamanders in the Plethodon glutinosus Complex |journal=Herpetologica |date=March 1996 |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=56–65 |jstor=3892956}}

Geographic range

P. glutinosus is found from New York, west to Illinois, south to Mississippi, and east to Alabama, with isolated populations in southern New Hampshire and northwestern Connecticut.Powell, Robert; Conant, Roger; Collins, Joseph T. (2016). Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiv + 494 pp., 207 figures, 47 plates. {{ISBN|978-0-544-12997-9}}. (Plethodon glutinosus, pp. 82-84 + Plate 6).

Habitat

P. glutinosus is highly associated with moist undisturbed woodlands, and ravines. P. glutinosus can also be found in caves and will seasonally retreat deeper into them when aboveground conditions are unideal.{{Cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Nathan |last2=Mays |first2=Jonathan |date=2006 |title=The Salamanders Eurycea longicauda and Plethodon glutinosus in Gregorys Cave, TN: Monitoring and Observations on Ecology and Natural History |url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1656/1528-7092%282006%295%5B435%3ATSELAP%5D2.0.CO%3B2 |journal=Southeastern Naturalist |language=en |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=435–442 |doi=10.1656/1528-7092(2006)5[435:TSELAP]2.0.CO;2 |issn=1528-7092}} The salamander is typically located on the underside of debris such as logs and stones during the day. P. glutinosus will emerge from debris on moist nights.{{Cite web |title=Species Profile: Slimy Salamander (Plethodon glutinosus complex) {{!}} SREL Herpetology |url=https://srelherp.uga.edu/salamanders/pleglu.htm |access-date=2022-04-06 |website=srelherp.uga.edu}} They can be found in areas of secondary succession in old growth deciduous or hemlock forests with steep, rocky slopes.{{Cite web |title=Northern Slimy Salamander |url=https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Wildlife/Fact-Sheets/Northern-Slimy-Salamander |access-date=2022-04-29 |website=CT.gov - Connecticut's Official State Website |language=en}} They prefer hiding under rotten logs and in decomposed organic matter like layers of duff on the forest floor. They can typically be found near a water source or in a moist areas. The clear-cutting of forests greatly reduces population numbers in the given area, where it takes 13 years for the population to return to half of what it was before the clear-cutting.{{Cite journal |last=Cohn |first=Jeffrey P. |date=1994 |title=Salamanders Slip-Sliding Away or Too Surreptitious to Count? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1312225 |journal=BioScience |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=219–223 |doi=10.2307/1312225 |jstor=1312225 |issn=0006-3568}}

Life history and behavior

File:Plethodon glutinosus2.JPG

=Behavior=

All plethodontid salamanders are territorial, and fight aggressively for territory. Their preferred habitat is in moist soil or leaf litter beneath stones, rotting logs, or other debris near a permanent water source. They sometimes make use of other animals' burrows. Their diet consists primarily of ants, beetles, sow bugs, and earthworms, but they will consume most kinds of insect.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} As their name suggests, slimy salamanders produce significant amounts of skin secretions that are highly adhesive. These adhesives bind to predators and can compromise both mastication and locomotion.{{Cite journal |last1=Brodie |first1=Edmund D. |last2=Nowak |first2=Robert T. |last3=Harvey |first3=William R. |date=1979-05-18 |title=The Effectiveness of Antipredator Secretions and Behavior of Selected Salamanders against Shrews |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1443413 |journal=Copeia |volume=1979 |issue=2 |pages=270 |doi=10.2307/1443413|jstor=1443413 }} Whenever threatened they will thrash their tail, exposing the glands that secrete this sticky substance.{{Cite journal |last=Brodie |first=Edmund D. |date=1977-08-25 |title=Salamander Antipredator Postures |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1443271 |journal=Copeia |volume=1977 |issue=3 |pages=523–535 |doi=10.2307/1443271 |jstor=1443271 |issn=0045-8511}} It was long thought that Slimy salamanders were thermoconformers but recent evidence shows that they actually move in and out of cave systems to regulate tempurature. {{Cite journal |last=Camp |first=Carlos D. |last2=Wooten |first2=Jessica A. |last3=Jensen |first3=John B. |last4=Bartek |first4=Dale F. |date=2014-02 |title=Role of temperature in determining relative abundance in cave twilight zones by two species of lungless salamander (family Plethodontidae) |url=http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/cjz-2013-0178 |journal=Canadian Journal of Zoology |language=en |volume=92 |issue=2 |pages=119–127 |doi=10.1139/cjz-2013-0178 |issn=0008-4301}}

=Reproduction=

Females reach sexual maturity in the second year of life and do not lay eggs until the third year.Highton, R. (1956). The life history of the slimy salamander, Plethodon glutinosus, in Florida. Copeia, 1956(2), 75-93. Breeding of P. glutinosus takes place in the spring and is terrestrial. Courtship consists of the males performing a sort of dance to attract the females' attention. Females lay clutches of four to 12 eggs in a moist area, which she guards, often neglecting food for the period until they hatch. Hatchlings emerge from the eggs in about three months, having no aquatic stage, like many other salamander species. They instead develop directly into their entirely terrestrial adult form. After hatching, young individuals show high growth rates during the summer months and little to no growth during the winter.{{cite journal |last1=Semlitsch |first1=Raymond |title=Geographic and Local Variation in Population Parameters of the Slimy Salamander Plethodon glutinosus |journal=Herpetologica |date=March 1980 |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=6–16 |jstor=3891846}}

=Diet=

Not much is known about the diet of the slimy salamanders, but it is believed that the species exhibit opportunistic feeding strategies where they consume prey that is easily accessible. One study surveyed the digestive systems of this species and found that ants, bees, wasps, beetles, sowbugs, snails, and earthworms occurred most frequently.Davidson, J. A. (1956). Notes on the food habits of the slimy salamander Plethodon glutinosus glutinosus. Herpetologica, 12(2), 129-131.{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Plethodon_glutinosus/ | title=Plethodon glutinosus (Northern Slimy Salamander) | website=Animal Diversity Web }} It is thought that these salamnders a facultative cave dwellers but do not use the caves as a food source as one study done says that of 107 sampled salamanders found in caves over 60% had empty stomachs. {{Cite journal |last=Highton |first=Richard |date=1956-05-29 |title=The Life History of the Slimy Salamander, Plethodon glutinosus, in Florida |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/1440417 |journal=Copeia |volume=1956 |issue=2 |pages=75 |doi=10.2307/1440417 |issn=0045-8511}}

References

External links

[http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Plethodon_glutinosus.html Animal Diversity Web: Plethodon glutinosus]
[http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/references.php?id=22671 Amphibian Species of the World: Plethodon glutinosus]
[http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Plethodon/P_glutinosus.shtml Caudata Culture Species Entry: Plethodon Complex]