Description: This subspecies of the red salamander, Pseudotriton ruber, is small, reaching a maximum length of 4 5/8 inches. It is similar to the northern red salamander in its red to red-orange color with many irregular, small black spots, except that it lacks the black spots on the tip half of the tail and on chin, and older adults retain their vivid colors. Older specimens of the northern red salamander become a purplish-brown color. The iris of the eye is usually yellow.

Habitat: This salamander is found in and about clear, cold springs and small streams of wooded ravines, swamps, open fields, and meadows at elevations as high as 5000 feet. Adults live in leaf accumulations in spring fed brooks and nearby crevices and burrows. They also live under logs, boards, stones, and leaves in more terrestrial habitats.

Range:

Found in these States: NC | TN | VA

Diet: Larvae likely feed on a range of aquatic invertebrates. Diet includes smaller salamanders such as eastern red-backed salamanders, aquatic and terrestrial insects, earthworms, slugs, spiders, and millipedes.

Reproduction: Clutch size averages 70 eggs; these are attached to the underside of large rocks that are well embedded in the soils of seeps and streams.

Status: They are known to have vanished from places where they historically occurred while other populations appear to be less robust than they were historically.

Taxonomy: