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Four-toed Salamander

Four-toed salamander
Volunteers were treated to a rare glimpse of the Four-toed salamader at Morgan Swamp this spring.
© David Kriska

The Four-toed Salamander is a relatively small salamander with adults typically only reaching lengths of 2 to 3.5 inches (5 to 10cm). As its name implies, the Four-toed Salamander can be readily identified from the presence of only four toes on each hind foot. Most other salamander species have five hind toes. Other distinguishing features of this species include a milk white belly that is peppered with black markings and a conspicuous constriction at the base of the tail. The dorsal surface is usually reddishbrown and its sides are typically grayish.

The Four-toed Salamander’s distribution is patchy across much of its range. The most continuous distribution extends from Maine west to southeastern Ontario and south through the middle of Ohio to northern Georgia. The Four-toed Salamander is a species of concern in all of the Midwestern states in which it resides. Even in Michigan and Wisconsin, where the range looks continuous, habitat destruction has likely restricted extant (not extinct) populations to small, isolated areas of suitable habitat. The Four-toed Salamander is listed as Endangered in Indiana, Threatened in Illinois, it is a species of Special Concern in Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, and it is a species of long term concern in Missouri.

Four-toed Salamanders prefer undisturbed, moist, deciduous, evergreen or mixed forests in close proximity to suitable breeding habitat. These areas include shallow, shaded pools and seeps, creeks, swamps and bogs. In summer, Four-toed Salamanders inhabit the forest, but during spring females migrate to forest breeding pools. The females nest in moss mats on the margins of these aquatic areas. When a female is ready to lay her eggs she normally turns upside down and lays her eggs in such a way that they attach to moss strands or other structures that may be hanging down. This process is aided by the eggs which are coated in a sticky material that helps them adhere to these hanging surfaces, or to other eggs. Proving to be an amazing animal, as well as hanging upside down to deposit their eggs, researchers have documented female Four-toed Salamanders taking between 12 and 72 hours to finish laying their clutch of eggs. Wow!

Excerpt from The Center for Reptile & Amphibian Conservation & Management web site.
Bruce Kingsbury, Director