Northern gray-cheeked salamander
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Plethodontidae
Subfamily: Plethodontinae
Genus: Plethodon
Species:
P. montanus
Binomial name
Plethodon montanus
Highton & Peabody, 2000

The northern gray-cheeked salamander (Plethodon montanus) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae and endemic to the Blue Ridge Mountains and Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. It is closely related to the Red-cheeked salamander and the Red-legged salamander. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. It is found under moss, rocks, logs, and bark in cool, moist forests above 2500 feet. Especially found in spruce-fir forests. The Gray-cheeked Salamander commonly eats millipedes, earthworms, crane flies, spiders, and centipedes and less commonly eats ants, mites, and springtails.[2] They eat spiders, moths, flies, beetles, bees, and snails.[3] The male and female perform a courtship, where the male nudges the female with his snout, does a foot dance, then circles under the female and the two then walk together.[4] Like other salamanders, they do not migrate or aggregate during breeding season. [5] It is threatened by habitat loss.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2014). "Plethodon montanus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T59349A56341130. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T59349A56341130.en. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Beamer, David; Lannoo, Michael. "Plethodon montanus". Amphibia Web. University of California. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Northern Gray-cheeked Salamander, Plethodon montanus, Plethodon jordani". Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Northern Gray-cheeked Salamander Plethodon montanus". Virginia Herpetological Society. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  5. ↑ Caruso, Nicholas M.; Rissler, Leslie J. (2019). "Museum Specimens Reveal Life History Characteristics in Plethodon Montanus". Copeia. 107 (4): 622. doi:10.1643/CH-18-145. S2CID 208942773. Copeia., vol. 107, no. 4, 2019, pp. 622–31. Retrieved March 16, 2023


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