Northern Zigzag Salamander (Plethodon dorsalis)
Description: A small (up to 11 cm TL), slender, red-backed or uniformly dark salamander similar to the redback salamander, but differing over much of its range in having a strongly lobulated (zigzag rather than straight-edged) red or yellow mid-dorsal band, or a straight-edged mid-dorsal stripe; costal grooves 16-18; 3.5 to 7.5 costal folds between toe tips of adpressed limbs; tail length of adult usually less than snout-vent length; shoulder or interhumeral region pigmented with orange or red; mental gland prominent in male. Black and white belly markings. Striking geographic variation in back stripe that extends from head to tail tip; in southeastern counties, it is a broad reddish (sometimes yellow) zigzag or has wavy edges; in some individuals, it is yellow, gray, or black. In counties bordering the Mississippi River, the back stripe is narrower, nearly straight sided, and either red or absent.
Habitat: Moist, rocky forests. Seasonally abundant in woodlands around rocky springs and cave entrances.
Range: This species can be found in the central United States of America from Illinois and Indiana southward through western and central Kentucky to central Tennessee.
Diet: Small invertebrates, especially spiders and beetles.
Reproduction: Northern Zigzag Salamanders breed terrestrially during the fall and spring. Females lay 3-9 eggs in underground cavities or in cave entrances during the spring and summer. Females remain with the eggs until hatching in the fall.
Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution and presumed large population.
»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
»» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
»» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
»» Class: Amphibia - (Amphibians)
»» Order: Caudata - Salamanders
»» Family: Plethodontidae - Lungless Salamanders
»» Genus: Plethodon
»» Species: Plethodon dorsalis - Northern Zigzag Salamander
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Northern Zigzag Salamander", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.
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