Marbled Salamander Salamanders Arkansas

Marbled salamanders are black with white splotches and bands giving them a marbled appearance.

Marbled salamander salamanders arkansas.

They can live between11 14 years if properly cared for. Marbled salamander ambystoma opacum. Plethodontidae lungless salamanders genera. The marbled salamander ambystoma opacum also called the banded salamander is a member of the mole salamander family.

Adult marbled salamanders maintained on a low food diet were more prone to bite an intruding salamander than those on a high food diet ducey and heuer 1991 which may indicate that aggression functions to repel an intruder from an individual s feeding area burrow refuge. They typically grow to about 4 inches long. This species is sexually dimorphic males tend to have white crossbands and females tend to have gray silvery crossbands. The marbled salamander is a stocky boldly banded salamander.

Color a midnight blue with bold broad silvery white crossbands often forming the appearance of inverse circles. Larvae are easily confused with spotted blue spotted and jefferson salamanders. Marbled salamanders are part of the mole salamander family which is a group of salamanders endemic to north america and the only genus in the. The mission of this website is to distribute and share knowledge regarding the naturally occurring reptiles and amphibians of arkansas.

They can be identified by their black dark brown body including its venter with light white silvery crossbands on the dorsum. Adults can grow to about 11 cm 4 in small compared to other members of its genus. A small stout bodied salamander measuring 3 4 5 inches with distinct light crossbands across a dark back. It gets its name from the white or silver bands that cover the black bodies of adult salamanders.

Like most of the mole salamanders it is secretive spending most of its life under logs or in burrows. Marbled salamander in boone county. The bands are variable in size and shape and may be incomplete. The marbled salamander is a relatively common resident throughout north carolina.

Desmognathus dusky salamanders eurycea brook salamanders hemidactylium four toed salamanders and plethodon woodland. Marbled salamanders grow to about 3 5 4 25 in 9 10 7 cm in size and are stout bodied and chubby in appearance. The bands of females tend to be gray while those of males are more white. Like other mole salamanders marbled salamanders are predators of smaller creatures but though they are voracious predators of insects worms and slugs they along with their eggs and juvenile forms provide food for many other hungry animals.

The marbled salamander is typically found in floodplains and low lying fertile areas dominated by hardwood trees.