Marbled Salamander Behavior

Like most of the mole salamanders it is secretive spending most of its life under logs or in burrows.

Marbled salamander behavior.

It has 11 12 costal grooves vertical grooves. The marbled salamander is one of many amphibians found in the bottomland hardwood forests of mississippi. He didn t like being handled he just wanted to get on the ground and run. The marbled salamander is a stocky boldly banded salamander.

They can be identified by their black dark brown body including its venter with light white silvery crossbands on the dorsum. The marbled salamander ambystoma opacum also called the banded salamander is a member of the mole salamander family. Marbled salamander in boone county. This and many other amphibians require small fishless woodland.

The body is black with light bands of varying widths running across the back. Too wild to be a pet my marbled salamander was fun to have but he was a little bit too skittish to be locked in a tank. It may also occur in open sandy woods and on rocky dry hillsides. Family ambystomatidae are a medium sized chunky salamander reaching up to 4 25 inches in length 10 8 cm as adults they have a variable number of white bars on the body.

Marbled salamander behavior tip. The bands of females tend to be gray while those of males are more white. Ambystoma opacum the marbled salamander is found throughout most of the eastern united states from massachusetts west to central illinois southeastern missouri and oklahoma and eastern texas south to the gulf of mexico and the carolina coast it is absent from peninsular florida. The female has gray markings and the male has white markings.

Like other ambystomatids these salamanders spend most of their time underground in burrows and are infrequently seen outside of the breeding season. This species is sexually dimorphic males tend to have white crossbands and females tend to have gray silvery crossbands. It gets its name from the white or silver bands that cover the black bodies of adult salamanders. This behavior helps prevent eggs from hatching too early after any unseasonal.

Adults can grow to about 11 cm 4 in small compared to other members of its genus. Marbled salamanders grow to about 3 5 4 25 in 9 10 7 cm in size and are stout bodied and chubby in appearance. A small stout bodied salamander this species is easily identified by its distinct black and white patterning across its entire body. I was worried many times that my cat would eat him.

Disjunct populations are found in eastern missouri central illinois in northwest ohio. Marbled salamander fact sheet. This secretive salamander spends most of its time under rocks logs or forest debris preferring forested areas.