Pennsylvania herping

I recently went herping somewhere in Northwest Pennsylvania with a friend. Despite hot weather we turned up quite a few species in the few days I was there. I was surprised by the numbers of salamanders in the area (that could be because very few species live around me).

The hillsides were covered in flat rocks and fallen branches which were home to a few Plethedon glutinosus.



Near the small spring fed streams at the bottom of the hills were an aboundance of Desmognathus ochrophaeus, Desmognathus fuscus, a few Eurycea bislineata and one Gyrinophilus porphyriticus. The duskies seemed to be under every other stone we flipped, it was pretty intense.

Here is one of the small streams







E.bislineata

G.porphyriticus



Up in the woods where it was drier there were a few more species. The Notophthalmus viridescens (in the eft stage) were on the road and under logs in the forest.



Also hidden on the forest floor were a few Plethedon cinereus.



A treat for the eyes was in an area with an aboundance of efts in the leaf litter and under logs. When I flipped the log and saw this little orange Pseudotriton ruber I didn't think too much of it because we had seen dozens of efts prior to it. Then I moved the mulch that was covering part of it and realized it what it was! I have always wanted to see one in the wild and this was my big chance.




Shortly after finding the P.ruber we both found another one of my favorites, Hemidactylium scutatum



Ambystoma maculatum were lurking in the woods as well.


It was a fun trip and the people I met there were really cool. Never in my life have I seen such a variety of amphibians in the wild.

Those are sweet pictures Jake!

Isn't Pa great, Jake? I don't know about Western Pa, but here in the east that P.ruber and the H.scutatum are pretty nice finds. Glad you had fun, thanks for sharing!

Stunning pics! You Americans are so lucky with all the different caudates species you have!

Wow! You had an impressive day! I just saw some P. ruber in person for the first time yesterday. Hope to see them in the wild some day!

Hi Jake you might had a great adventurous day in Herping with Caudata species .Those pictures are really awesome, it certainly gives an amusement to see such rare species. you certainly had thrilling experience .
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shinyallard
Pennsylvania Drug Addiction

Sounds and looks like you had a great time. Great pics and great finds for this time of the year.

What is with the black piece of plastic I see in some of the pictures?

I never noticed this awesome thread. Thank you Jake for brightening my day.

blckkeys said:

Sounds and looks like you had a great time. Great pics and great finds for this time of the year.

What is with the black piece of plastic I see in some of the pictures?

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Thanks, it was a great time.

The black plastic is a garbage bag laid flat. A couple of the pics I took indoors because I didn't want the camera to get damaged in the rain.

Cool. I figured it was something like that. Again, great pics.

Dang! I live in western PA and I have never had such luck with herping. I guess I just don't know where the caudates are. Beautiful pictures by the way.

Great herping account Jake, really enjoyed the photos!

Nice photos! looks like you had a great time there. Maybe I will get lucky and find such nice looking animals. What else did you do there?

creekcritter said:

Nice photos! looks like you had a great time there. Maybe I will get lucky and find such nice looking animals. What else did you do there?

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Yeah, Pennsylvania is a great place. I met another newtist, his family and a few of the neighbors, all good people, I think you might have even met them before, creekcritter. We played the game "Inebriated Newts" which I think I'll try finding on ebay (if you've never played it you're missing out!). The guy's collection was very tasteful, put's my little collection of common newts to shame. I've never seen a few of the species in person that I saw while I was there.

If I ever win the lottery or strike gold I know where I'm moving

Really? I thought if I won the lottery, I'd move to the Blue Ridge mountains. I think that area had the greatest diversity of sals in the US (and therefore the world).