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Southern red-backed salamander

{{Short description|Species of amphibian}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Southern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon serratus).jpg

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group |date=2014 |title=Plethodon serratus |volume=2014 |page=e.T59354A56338786 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T59354A56338786.en |access-date=20 November 2021}}

| taxon = Plethodon serratus

| authority = Grobman, 1944

| synonyms =

  • Plethodon cinereus serratus
    Grobman, 1944
  • Plethodon cinereus polycentratus Highton and Grobman, 1956

| synonyms_ref =

}}

The southern red-backed salamander (Plethodon serratus) is a species of salamander endemic to the United States. It is found in four widely disjunct populations: one in central Louisiana; one in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma; one in central Missouri; and one from southeastern Tennessee, to southwestern North Carolina, western Georgia, and eastern Alabama. It is sometimes referred to as the Georgia red-backed salamander or the Ouachita red-backed salamander. It was once considered a subspecies of the red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus.

Description

The southern red-backed salamander is typically gray or black in color, with a red-brown, fading stripe across the width of its back. It grows from 8 to 11 cm (3 to 4 in) in length. Similar to Plethodon cinereus, Plethodon serratus comes in several atypical color variations. The typical red backed phase with a red dorsal stripe consists of most individuals. The atypical variations include a lead backed phase with a dark grey stripe, a silver back phase with a light grey dorsal stripe, hypomelanistic (leucistic) variations of the red backed form, and the rare white backed, or ghost phase. Unlike P. cinereus, P. serratus has not yet been found to have an erythristic variation.{{Cite journal|last1=DRAKE|first1=DANA L.|last2=O'DONNELL|first2=KATHERINE M.|date=2014|title=Sampling of Terrestrial Salamanders Reveals Previously Unreported Atypical Color Morphs in the Southern Red-backed Salamander Plethodon serratus|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43822723|journal=The American Midland Naturalist|volume=171|issue=1|pages=172–177|doi=10.1674/0003-0031-171.1.172 |jstor=43822723 |s2cid=86306543 |issn=0003-0031}}

Behavior

Mostly nocturnal, it is often found under ground debris in moist, forested areas. In dry seasons, it moves closer to permanent water sources. Its primary diet is small arthropods and mollusks.

References

{{Reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite web |url=http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/index.php/ |title=Plethodon serratus Grobman, 1944 |author=Frost, Darrel R. |year=2020 |work=Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0 |publisher=American Museum of Natural History |access-date=20 February 2020}}

}}

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20170907170610/http://pick5.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?search=Plethodon+serratus Discover Life: Plethodon serratus]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20060927170321/http://www.herpsofnc.org/herps_of_NC/salamanders/pleser.html Herps of North Carolina: Southern Redback Salamander]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q3392351}}

Category:Plethodon

Category:Endemic amphibians of the United States

Category:Fauna of the Southeastern United States

Category:Fauna of the Plains-Midwest (United States)

Category:Amphibians described in 1944

{{Plethodontidae-stub}}