Shenandoah salamander
| Shenandoah salamander | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Urodela |
| Family: | Plethodontidae |
| Subfamily: | Plethodontinae |
| Genus: | Plethodon |
| Species: | P. shenandoah |
| Binomial name | |
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Plethodon shenandoah Highton and Worthington, 1967 |
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| Shenandoah salamander range (red) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Plethodon richmondi shenandoah Highton and Worthington, 1967 |
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Plethodon richmondi shenandoah Highton and Worthington, 1967
The Shenandoah salamander (Plethodon shenandoah) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the United States and the state of Virginia. It is only known from North facing talus slopes on three mountain tops inside the Shenandoah National Park.
Typical total length is 7.5–11 cm (3.0–4.3 in). There are two color phases, striped and unstriped. The unstriped phase is uniformly dark, while the striped phase has a narrow red stripe down the back. The unstriped phase may have reduced brassy pigmentation dorsally. The sides and the belly are black, but there are white spots and the belly has variable amounts of white or yellow mottling.
Males and females typically establish separate feeding and/or mating territories underneath rocks and logs. Breeding occurs in fall and spring, with females attending clutches of eggs laid in crevices between rocks in their talus habitat.
The Shenandoah salamander occurs in steep, northerly facing talus slopes in forested situations, generally 800 m (2,600 ft) above sea level. It tolerates relative dry conditions. It appears to be excluded from moister habitats by competition with the mode aggressive and competitively superior eastern red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus).
The Shenandoah salamander's range is entirely protected by the Shenandoah National Park, so habitat loss is unlikely to be a major threat, but the FWS identifies 1) defoliation of trees by gypsy moth, 2) its extremely restricted range size, and 3) competition with redbacked salamanders as reasons for its 1989 endangered listing under the Endangered Species Act. Subsequent to this listing, climate change and the deadly amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis have been suggested as possible threats to highly restricted mountain-dwelling Appalachian salamanders.
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