A few photos from SC

[onetwentysix]

I've been herping a bit since moving to SC, and I just thought that I'd share a few photos of some animals that I've found.

I found this P. metcalfi on one of my trips into the mountains. I found a good number that day, and they really slimed me pretty good. I had a bit of a time trying to identify whether they were metcalfi or Plethodon teyahalee, but after looking up on Amphibiaweb, I saw that I was 20 east of the range of teyahalee.

P. glutinosis complex spp., P. chlorobryonis and P. cylindraceus, I think. The bottom one is definately P. chlorobryonis, though the other could be either; I found it really close to the border of the two ranges.

E. cirrigera are common in streams if you look for them.

Desmognathus spp.

I went into the mountains of NC one trip looking for P. ruber and Gyrinophilus, and managed to find this pair of larvae, G. porphyriticus dunni, possibly danielsi (again, right near the border.)

Ambystoma opacum was a big priority species for me, and I managed to find almost a dozen of them so far. Very cool animals, I'm really looking forward to scoping them out this fall during the breeding season.

This was my first N. v. viridescens, I found around 30 of them that day. They're much more photogenic in their land phase, though:

This E. quadridigitata was my one salamander from a long and expensive trip to Southern SC. Basically, everything that could have gone wrong on that trip did, and while I saw some snakes, turtles, and frogs, I didn't find any other sals until I stopped on my way home at a spot I knew and found 2 larval S. i. intermedia and 3 Necturus punctatus.

Here was a fun find; Pseudotriton ruber. The log she was under was really dry, but she was still hydrated enough to urinate all over me, repeatedly.


And of course, you can't go herping in the South without watching out for these guys!

Thanks for looking!

 

[Nathan050793]

Great pictures, the A.opacum and the P.ruber are both sals I'm really hoping to see in the future, great finds.

Oh yeah, that moccasin is pretty awesome too.

 

[John]

Great thread Peter, thank you for posting it.

 

[dane_zu]

How awesome! I like the N.V.V's, necturus, and of course the ruber.

 

[Ralf]

AW: A few photos from SC

Thanks for sharing. Makes me a bit envious I have to admit. All I've seen outside lately was the neighbour's cat.

 

[cecalak]

Nice finds! Do you have any more pictures of the S. intermedia larvae? All the larvae I've seen from outside the Savannah area have very defined red/orange lines, but I know they can be extremely variable. Do you have any good characteristics to tell intermedia and lacertina apart?

 

[Slimy2]

Nice pictures! Makes me want to go herping in SC for the summer =) Thanks for sharing.

 

[lilacdragon7]

How did you get into herping?

 

[i_love_necturus]

Cool pics. I like those sirens a lot. Where is the punctatus? Looks like SC has a lot to offer in the way of herps.

 

[TristanH]

Beautiful photos, I'm really jealous! You have so many species in the wild over there.

Tristan

 

[pierson_hill]

Nice post!

I believe you have both Pseudotrition (left) and Gyrinophilus larvae in your photo. There are subtleties in their head shapes and lateral line arrangements that can distinguish between them but it's difficult until you've seen many of them side by side.

It's cool to see larval Siren intermedia -- they're much more difficult to turn up than the adults for some reason.

Any guesses on your Desmog ID?

 

[Jake]

Here was a fun find; Pseudotriton ruber. The log she was under was really dry, but she was still hydrated enough to urinate all over me, repeatedly.

I had a similar experience out east this summer. I wasn't urinated on by one of those beauties, but did find on under a very dry log quite a distance from any water.

Thanks for sharing your finds with us.

 

[tylototriton]

Great Pictures. They make me long to get outside more.

 

[bobberly1]

WOW! Such diversity! Nice sundew next to the copperhead by the way. I'd find it so unsettling living around poisonous snakes.

 

[onetwentysix]

Someone brought this thread up again and I realized I'd meant to respond and never got around to it; sorry about this.

cecalak - I don't have any photos of the siren larvae, unfortunately. I think the stress got to them, because they didn't live very long; I was really disappointed. I'd like to head back and see what I can find, but since my net was completely busted, I'm out of luck. I'd like to get a new, high quality net, but those aren't in my price range for the time being.

As far as telling the difference between the larvae, I mostly went on some comparision photos and the fact that lacertina are supposed to be pretty rare in that part of the state.

lilacdragon7 - I've pretty much always been into herping; my family has photos of me with frogs and salamanders almost as long as I've been walking. Towards the end of High School, I just kinda got back into it and haven't looked back.

i_love_necturus - I generally don't take photos of aquatic salamanders; it's such a huge pain to get a half-way decent photo that I just don't really try anymore. Even the animals I keep at home I have problems getting good photos, what with the glass and scratched from algae, etc.

pierson_hill - Thanks, Pierson. Could be that they were both, I'm not up to that challenge quite yet. Same with the Desmog; I have no idea what it was, and I imagine it'll be years before I'm at a level where I can get Desmogs at a level I can feel proud of. That kinda stuff you really need to see in person, and growing up in Wisconsin really limits the genera you encounter!

bobberly1 - I wouldn't worry so much about venomous snakes; for the most part, they'd just assume stay away from you. And you just have to be extremely careful when going into their habitat. Cottons make me really uncomfortable, since they're more aggressive than you'll find with other snakes. I never go herping without my rubber boots; won't protect me if he strikes higher, but it gives me a foot or so of extra protection (and keeps the water out, too).

Thanks for all the comments, everyone. I haven't really seen much worth posting since then, but one of these days I should get a nice photo of a brooding opacum, if I'm lucky.

 

[antcatcher11]

Oh cool! Drosera! You found a carnivorous plant bog!