Plethodon serratus??

[leanne]

This guy washed in after the flood we got in east Tennessee---I didn't get too good of a shot, but do you think it's a red-backed salamander? The tail is a little short, that's the odd thing....

 

[mark]

Its hard to tell what he is from that picture, but I can tell you that I have found red-backs with missing tails and with regenerated tails.

I am not going to lie; I have picked one up by the tail before, and it snapped off immediately. I've learned to never do that with them! I believe it is a defense for this species and very much a normal thing.

That one probably has a regenerated tail.

 

[shaun]

Do any other species of salamander shed their tails?

 

[jesse]

most if not all terrestrial forms will shed their tails if they are in a tight sqeeze

 

[leanne]

It's weird, but the tail looked like it was naturally short---no noticeable sever marks or abruptness in the tail's gradual slendering towards the end...? Shaun, tails aren't shed by caudata, but are sometimes broken off by accident, and at that point they will be regenerated.

 

[nate]

That's a Desmognathus for sure, probably D. abditus. Hard to tell exactly what species it is from the photo.