Diet: Red-backed salamanders primarily consume a variety of small invertebrates. They have also been known to cannibalize eggs and juvenile salamanders ...
Range The western red-backed salamander can be found from British Columbia south to southern Oregon.
Habitat The western red-backed salamander can be found under rocks and fallen wood, along stream banks and in shady forests.
Diet ...
Description: There are two distinct color morphs of the southern red-backed salamander. The striped morph has a dark grey or brown base color with an orange or red stripe stretching from the head to the end of the tail.
Like their eastern Red-backed Salamander cousins, the Western Red-backed Salamanders pay no attention to their standard English name and come festooned in shades from yellow to red to brown to black.
Four-toed salamanders (top) can be easily distinguished from the similar appearing Eastern Red-backed Salamander (bottom) by looking at their bellies.
The Red-backed Salamander along with all salamanders within the family Plethodontidae are lungless. Nearly all of their respiration takes place through cutaneous gas exchange. This means that they breathe through their skin.
The Red-backed Salamander is a small (5.7 - 10 cm) eastern species of Plethodon (lungless salamanders). It usually has a straight-edged red stripe down the back as you see the picture.
Common Name: Eastern Red-backed Salamander
Scientific Name: Plethodon cinereus
Wisconsin Status: not protected ...
However, fewer captures of salamanders on burned sites compared to unburned sites [38,44,69,70] and mortalities of eastern red-backed salamanders sheltering under dead logs [70] indicate the potential for negative effects of fire on adult four-toed ...
Another notable exception is the common woodland Red-backed Salamander. Female "red-backs" do not lay their eggs in water instead the eggs are typically deposited (and are attended by the female) in a cavity under a rotting log or stump.
In and around the Zoo you can find bullfrogs, green frogs, gray tree frogs, and red-backed salamanders. And many fish live in Rock Creek, including blue-gilled sunfish, red-nosed dace, and blueback herring.
Test, F. H., and H. Heatwole. 1962. Nesting sites of the red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus, in Michigan. Copeia 1962:206-207.
Another Chicago Region critter? . Or my Ecology home page?
Similar species in our area: Red-backed salamanders (P. cinereus) may look similar, but has five toes and enamel-white belly.
Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum)
Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum)
Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)
Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) ...
Such strictly terrestrial forms are the red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus) and slimy salamander (P. glutinosus) of E United States and the slender salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus) of the Pacific coast.
northern red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
northern slimy salamander (Plethodon glutinosus)
northern spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer crucifer)
northern spring salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus porphyriticus) ...
 See also: Salamander, Reptile, Four-toed Salamander, Turtle, Newt
  
|
RSS
