Plethodon Cinereus, rare coloration?

EasternNewtLove

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Jesse
I was in the woods a couple of months back and found this Plethodon Cinereus. I already had what I thought was enough of them, but he had these... spots on him. It was very obvious. I was standing upright and rolled the log over and saw he looked odd, so I looked up close and noticed he had golden flecks on him. He was really a chance encounter as I had been walking home with my friend after pond-scouting in the woods and decided to roll over a log in an are we had lots of luck in before.So what Im wondering, is is this a common or rare color morph? Has it been seen on the leadback variety before? Or is it normal for leadbacks to have golden flecks?

Also, I have a side question, do Plethodon Cinereus grom back any missing limbs? I found one at a park missing a foot, took her in, and it appears that bone structure is reforming in the stub and early sings of digits are appearing.
 

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I've seen a couple colored like that. I'd say it's unusual, but not rare.

Regrowth is common in all caudates. If she's clean and well-fed, it should grow back within a couple of months.
 
If it were on the west coast, I would identify it as P.dunni rather than P.vehiculum. It's entirely possible that these are an unrecorded range extension for another species, or an unidentified species. It would be worthwhile searching similar nearby habitats to see how common this form is, whether is sympatric with anything else, and have them compared morphometrically, morphologically, and genetically to other populations and identified species.
 
I have one of these!!! I tought it was a richmondi!

All you have to do is check the belly and throat. If it's solid grey/black then it.s P. richmondi. P. cinereus will have salt and pepper flecking on it's underside.
 
I would say it is most likely P. cinerues I find them in my back yard all the time. I could go out the and flip a couple rocks and find about 10 standered redbacks 5 or 6 leadbacks 2 or 3 with white flecking and another couple with simmilar gold colors all in the span of 20 minutes, they abosolutly swarm my back yard
 
Yeah, I knew it was Plethodon Cinereus. I just wanted to know if gold flecks were rare.
 
From what iv seen around my area they're deffinitly one of the least common colors nice find and pictures
 
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