Creature Feature #3: Red-Backed Salamanders

Welcome back to another installment of my favorite topics: creature features! Today I'll be talking briefly about a fun little amphibian called the red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus. 

My very first field work outing as a research assistant my freshman year of college was helping my lab with a project on these guys. It was rainy, cold day in March and we were lugging 20 pound boxes of ceramic floor tiles through the forest to drop in a grid a ways off the trail. We were setting down cover objects to provide hiding places for these slimy friends to hide. I was wet, tired, and my toe was throbbing from where I dropped a box of floor tiles on it, but it was the best day ever. As a result, Plethodon cinereus will always hold a weird, special place in my heart as my first study subject at 18 years old. 

Red-backed salamanders are a small species of lungless salamanders in the family Plethodontidae. They inhabit wooded areas on the east coast of the US from North Carolina north to Canada. They are quite abundant throughout their range. As a result, you can find this species pretty easily under rocks, logs, and leaf litter most of the year. Because they are lungless, this species performs respiration through their skin. Another interesting fact about the red-backed salamanders is that there are 2 distinct color morphs, as you can see in the picture below. Yes, these are the same species!

I always have a ton of fun flipping logs and rocks to find these guys and I've taken several family members and friends salamander hunting with me in the early Spring. Just remember to leave no trace and always replace everything you move, on or off the trail! 

Thanks again for reading and stopping by the T. ReX-Files! Leave a comment with your favorite herps to look for on the trails or your first research/field work memory! Until next time, stay curious my friends.