Habitat/Range: Mole salamanders range across the coastal plain of the southeastern United States and may be found in isolated populations in North Carolina.
Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum)
Photos by J.D. Willson unless otherwise noted ...
Mole salamanders (family Ambystomidae) have rounded snouts. Their larvae have feathery external gills.
Mole Salamanders
Species I've seen:
Ambystoma gracile
Northwestern Salamander ...
Mole Salamander, Ambystoma talpoideum
The Mole Salamander is one of the smaller members of the family Ambystomatidae, attaining lengths around 4 inches.
The mole salamanders spend the majority of the year feeding in subterranean tunnels in the woodlands that surround seasonal pools. Their diet consists of snails, worms, insect larvae, spiders, isopods, crickets, and other small animals they encounter.
Like other mole salamanders in West Virginia, Marbled Salamanders remain underground until the breeding period. Unlike the other species of this genus, they breed and deposit eggs in the autumn.
Variation in the feeding kinematics of mole salamanders (Ambystomatidae: Ambystoma) Canadian Journal of Zoology. 73(2): 353-366. [28330]
5. Beneski, John T., Jr.; Zalisko, Edward J.; Larsen, John H., Jr. 1986.
Mole salamanders are fossorial, therefore they are rarely observed above ground, with the exception of their brief breeding season. A much more common congener, spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), is widespread and found throughout the state.
This species is a kind of mole salamander,
a group of North American amphibians that include the tiger salamander and the axolotl. Salamanders look like lizards, but are not. They start out living in the water, and then move out onto the land.
Sometimes a mole salamander (Ambystomatidae) will also keep gills into adulthood. These mole salamanders are called axolotls and never leave the water for their land stage. They are like adults with the features of the larval stage... Amphibians ...
This species, like others in the mole salamander family, spends most of its adult life underground. The adults are active and will bite and twist their bodies around if handled. The gilled, fin-tailed larvae are seen much more often.
CAUDATA: Ambystomatidae (Mole Salamanders) Common Name Scientific Name Distribution
Jefferson Salamander *
Ambystoma jeffersonianum
Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and western Worcester counties. Listed as "Special Concern".
The spotted salamander is a mole salamander and spends most of its time underground. It needs areas with soil that is easy to burrow into. Some spotted salamanders can live to be 30 years old!
Image Credits: Clipart.com
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They are divided into about ten subgroups including mole salamanders, amphiumas, giant salamanders and hellbenders, Pacific giant salamanders, Asiatic salamanders, lungless salamanders, mudpuppies and waterdogs, torrent salamanders, ...
Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum)
The remarakable axolotl is part of the family of 'mole salamanders', but exhibits an unusual and extreme trait known as neoteny, or... More 11 Images 7 Videos ...
mole salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum)
mountain chrous frog (Pseudacris brachyphona)
New Jersey chorus frog (Pseudacris ferairum kalmi)
northern dusky salamander (Desmognathus fuscus)
northern green frog (Rana clamitans melanota) ...
A total of 26 species occur in Arkansas (give or take a couple as identification and relationships continue to be worked out using more modern methods of genetic analysis). The plump, aptly-named mole salamanders are represented, among others, ...
They may also live in abandoned burrows made by other animals or invertebrates, such as crayfish. Living underground places them in a group called "mole salamanders." Burrowing allows them to live in cooler, moister environments.
 See also: Mole, Salamander, Burro, Marbled Salamander, Spotted Salamander
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