Getulamander
New member
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2014
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Fairhope, Alabama, USA
- Country
- United States
I collected these two species of Salamanders in February alongside the banks of an intact, spring-fed creek in mucky detritus below a slight bluff.
Four experts have given me three different answers for the Dusky, and two answers for the Southern Red. To be fair, they've only seen the photos you're seeing, so no chance for DNA sampling. Here are some photos, so I'd love to get some input from folks that know the eastern Gulf Coast salamanders. When I say Gulf Coast, I'm talking 1.5 miles east of Mobile Bay & 7 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico in southern Baldwin County.
The Desmognathus has been called one yet to be described, a Southern, and a Spotted (I lean toward a Spotted), and the Pseudotriton either P. ruber vioscai or P. montanus flavissimus. I called it a Southern Red but being a plant taxonomist that is a specialist in a very difficult group of plants with a nasty nomenclatural past, I look to others for as much info as I can get.
The larval Dusky was collected about 10 feet from the adult Dusky...you can see that its gills are nearly absorbed now. It's sitting on a sweebay magnolia leaf in one photo, and hopped off onto my floor for a moment for the other photo op.
Thanks in advance - great site!
Four experts have given me three different answers for the Dusky, and two answers for the Southern Red. To be fair, they've only seen the photos you're seeing, so no chance for DNA sampling. Here are some photos, so I'd love to get some input from folks that know the eastern Gulf Coast salamanders. When I say Gulf Coast, I'm talking 1.5 miles east of Mobile Bay & 7 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico in southern Baldwin County.
The Desmognathus has been called one yet to be described, a Southern, and a Spotted (I lean toward a Spotted), and the Pseudotriton either P. ruber vioscai or P. montanus flavissimus. I called it a Southern Red but being a plant taxonomist that is a specialist in a very difficult group of plants with a nasty nomenclatural past, I look to others for as much info as I can get.
The larval Dusky was collected about 10 feet from the adult Dusky...you can see that its gills are nearly absorbed now. It's sitting on a sweebay magnolia leaf in one photo, and hopped off onto my floor for a moment for the other photo op.
Thanks in advance - great site!
Attachments
-
Desmognathus cf. conanti, Spotted Dusky Salamander, Baldwin Co, AL - March 2014.jpg -
Southern or Spotted Dusky Salamander, Desmognathus sp, lower venter, alongside spring-fed creek .jpg -
Southern or Spotted Dusky Salamander, Desmognathus sp, lower, chin, alongside spring-fed creek a.jpg -
Desmognathus spp, larval stage, March, no2, 2014.jpg -
Desmognathus spp, larval stage, March, 2014.jpg -
Southern or Spotted Dusky Salamander, Desmognathus sp., alongside spring-fed creek at base of st.jpg -
Pseudotriton rubra vioscai, Southern Red Salamander, Baldwin County, AL, in wet leaf litter besi.jpg -
Pseudotriton rubra vioscai, Southern Red Salamander, ventral view, Baldwin County, AL, in wet le.jpg