Some herping trip photos

[onetwentysix]

I haven't been around here much lately, but I've still been getting out, and thought people might appreciate some of the animals I've seen.

Earlier this year, I got to go with some friends on an overnight herping trip, and found these animals:

Slimy salamander, Plethodon glutinosis complex

Baby slimy, really cute little guys!

I always love finding box turtles.

I believe the top three would be a northern red salamander, Pseudotriton r. ruber, but then we also found the bottom animal, which my best guess is that it's a southern red salamander, Pseudotriton r. vioscai. Could be intergrades, but the site was right at the border between the two subspecies.

Broadhead skink

Cottonmouth! We found five, it was a blast!

Time to play, "Spot the venomous snake that could kill you!" Most of the group had gone past, actively searching for snakes, but I still spotted this cottonmouth in the brambles. You might be able to JUST make out a scale pattern roughly in the middle (but probably can't). It wasn't much easier in person!

Snake after removal from brambles. She was HUGE, biggest cottonmouth I'd ever seen (which admittedly, wasn't many; I doubled my life-count on that trip).

Cottonmouth we found while checking our minnow traps (they were all empty). Scared the **** out of my friend; he's terrified of snakes but still comes with us. He was in the water about two feet away from the snake before he spotted him.

Ringneck snake

Eastern fence lizard

Underside of a male fence lizard, they have really neat coloration.

Pair of South-eastern five lined skinks

Mites on one of the skinks

Tiny turtle!

Larger turtle!

Ribbon snake

Little ground skink, one of my favorite lizards.

On another group trip with a guest herpetologist we found this really pretty Eurycea. I was thinking it was wilderae, since we were just on the border of their range and it was so much more attractive than other cirrigera I've found.

We also found this green salamander, which was great because he'd always wanted to see some but never had.

Another trip, and my friend found this nice G. porphyriticus.

Eurycea eggs, I believe?

And then these would be Desmogs?

And then I found this guy. It's always great to find hellbenders, and it made wading in 40 degree water on a 50 degree day totally worth it.

Anyhow, thanks for looking!

 

[emmyk]

What a successful trip! Goodness! Where were you?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4

 

[onetwentysix]

It was a couple trips all posted at once; three, I think. All of them were either in SC or NC. It's a lot of fun; I'm going on another trip this weekend, so I'll post some photos from that, if my camera works (I busted it on the last bendering trip . . . still worth it!)

 

[stanleyc]

Great finds, this was all over the course of 2 days? and Red Hot Chili Peppers?

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

That first batch of eggs really look like P. ruber eggs to me. Awesome finds.

 

[Jefferson]

Great finds; getting out in Appalachia and the South is always riveting. One thing; though. I think your wilderae is actually a Long-tailed. If you weren't in Long-tailed range, that was one unusual Two-Liner. Great finds; especially the reds and springs!

 

[onetwentysix]

Great finds, this was all over the course of 2 days? and Red Hot Chili Peppers?

It was two day trips and an overnight trip, so four days. A friend runs these seminars at the local university, where she invites some biologist to give a speech at the school and then the next day a group of us go out on a field trip with the speaker. It's always a really good time. I kinda cheated on the Aneides photo, though; that exact picture was from a separate trip when I was alone, but we found one that trip anyhow - I just didn't get a photo then since it was too far back in the crevasse.

That first batch of eggs really look like P. ruber eggs to me. Awesome finds.

You're right, they do after looking them up, though they also look like Eurycea; I have no idea how to tell them apart and I never thought to consider that they might be Pseudotriton. The stream presumably had ruber, though we've never found any there.

Great finds; getting out in Appalachia and the South is always riveting. One thing; though. I think your wilderae is actually a Long-tailed. If you weren't in Long-tailed range, that was one unusual Two-Liner. Great finds; especially the reds and springs!

Definitely not a long-tailed; we were a long ways from their range and either myself, my friend, or the speaker would have been able to ID a longicauda. Really pretty, though; kinda makes me want to go collect a few and trying to get them to breed, but they'll be better off in their stream.

 

[ozarkhellbender]

I agree that the Eurycea is E. wilderae. I've never seen a Eurycea longicauda with unbroken lines down the side like that, neither in the nominate subspecies nor E. l. melanopleura.