Cheat Mountain salamander
Encyclopedia
- For the heritage railroad, see Durbin and Greenbrier Valley RailroadDurbin and Greenbrier Valley RailroadThe Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad is a heritage and freight railroad in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It operates the West Virginia State Rail Authority-owned Durbin Railroad and West Virginia Central Railroad , as well as the Shenandoah Valley Railroad in Virginia.-Trains:The DGVR...
.
The Cheat Mountain salamander (Plethodon nettingi) is a small, threatened woodland salamander
Woodland salamander
Woodland salamanders are lungless salamanders of the genus Plethodon. They are so named due to their habitat, woodlands, and the fact that they have no aquatic larval stage. Eggs are laid underneath a stone or log and young hatch in the adult form....
found only on Cheat Mountain
Cheat Mountain
Cheat Mountain is an exceptionally high and rugged ridge situated in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It is about long and more than five miles wide at its widest. Its highest point is at its southernmost end at Thorny Flat, which has an elevation of...
, and a few nearby mountains, in the eastern highlands of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. It and the West Virginia Spring Salamander
West Virginia Spring Salamander
The West Virginia Spring Salamander is a species of salamander in the Plethodontidae family.It is endemic to the United States.Its natural habitats are inland karsts and caves.It is threatened by habitat loss....
are the only vertebrate species with ranges restricted to that state.
The Cheat Mountain salamander (CMS) has decreased in population due to destruction of its original red spruce
Red Spruce
Picea rubens is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and from New England south in the Adirondack Mountains and Appalachians to western North Carolina.-Physical description:...
forest habitat, as well as by pollution, drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
, forest storm damage, and by competition with other salamanders, especially its relative, the red backed salamander
Red Back Salamander
The red back salamander is a small, hardy woodland salamander. It inhabits wooded slopes in Eastern North America; west to Missouri; south to North Carolina; and north from southern Quebec and the Maritime Provinces in Canada to Minnesota...
.
Description
The CMS is smallish, similar in size to the red-backed salamander (3 to 4¾ inches, or 7½ to 12 cm), but is distinct in its black or dark brown dorsum (back) which is boldly marked with numerous small brassy, silver or white flecks. It lacks a dorsal stripe. The belly is dark gray to black. The tail is about the same length as its body, which has 17 to 19 costal grooveCostal groove
The Costal groove is a groove between the ridge of the internal surface of the rib and the inferior border. It contains the intercostal vessels and intercostal nerve....
s (vertical grooves along its sides).
Taxonomy
The CMS was discovered by M. Graham NettingM. Graham Netting
Maurice Graham Netting — known as M. Graham Netting — was a herpetologist, an early participant in the conservation and environmental movement, and a director of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.-Biography:...
and Leonard Llewellyn on White Top
White Top
White Top is a knob and spur of Cheat Mountain in southeastern Randolph County, West Virginia, USA. Sitting at an elevation of , it is located just west of the Shavers Fork of Cheat River and Cheat Bridge. While White Top was originally crossed by the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, modern-day U.S...
, a summit of Cheat Mountain
Cheat Mountain
Cheat Mountain is an exceptionally high and rugged ridge situated in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It is about long and more than five miles wide at its widest. Its highest point is at its southernmost end at Thorny Flat, which has an elevation of...
in Randolph County
Randolph County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 28,262 people, 11,072 households, and 7,661 families residing in the county. The population density was 27 people per square mile . There were 13,478 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...
in 1935. It was described (and named) by N. Bayard Green in 1938. This salamander and the Peaks of Otter salamander
Peaks Of Otter Salamander
The Peaks of Otter salamander is a species of salamander in the Plethodontidae family. It is endemic not only to the United States, but to the Peaks of Otter in Virginia...
(P. hubrichti), which has a similarly restricted range in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, were once considered subspecies of a single species -- Netting's salamander -- but since 1979 they (along with the Shenandoah Salamander
Shenandoah Salamander
The Shenandoah Salamander is a species of salamander in the Plethodontidae family. 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...
, P. shenandoah) have been considered separate, full species. Their ranges were both probably much larger in the past. (The circumstances surrounding the discovery and formal description of the CMS are related by Maurice Brooks
Maurice Brooks
Maurice Graham Brooks was an American educator and naturalist whose name became synonymous with the natural history of Appalachia.-Biography:...
in his classic natural history book, The Appalachians (1965).)
Range
The CMS is restricted to a small portion of the high Allegheny MountainsAllegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...
in eastern West Virginia. Initially, its range
Range (biology)
In biology, the range or distribution of a species is the geographical area within which that species can be found. Within that range, dispersion is variation in local density.The term is often qualified:...
was thought to be limited to Cheat Mountain at elevations above 3500 feet (1,066.8 m) in Randolph and in Pocahontas
Pocahontas County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,131 people, 835 households, and 527 families residing in the county. The population density was 10 people per square mile . There were 7,594 housing units at an average density of 8 per square mile...
County, where it was also found at Thorny Flat (Cheat's highest point). Later inventories conducted in the 1970s and ‘80s expanded the range to include Pendleton
Pendleton County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 8,196 people, 3,350 households, and 2,355 families residing in the county. The population density was 12 people per square mile . There were 5,102 housing units at an average density of 7 per square mile...
and Tucker
Tucker County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 7,321 people, 3,052 households, and 2,121 families residing in the county. The population density was 18 people per square mile . There were 4,634 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...
counties (e.g., Backbone Mountain
Backbone Mountain
Backbone Mountain is a ridge of the Allegheny Mountains of the central Appalachian Mountain Range. It is situated in the U.S. states of West Virginia and Maryland and forms a portion of the Eastern Continental Divide...
, Dolly Sods). More recently, the range has been shown to include the eastern edge of Grant
Grant County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 11,299 people, 4,591 households, and 3,273 families residing in the county. The population density was 24 people per square mile . There were 6,105 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...
County where they are found as low as 2640 feet (804.7 m) elevation. Most populations are found above 3500 feet (1,066.8 m). The entire CMS range encompasses only about 935 square miles (2,421.6 km²), but not continuously throughout even this area (about 60 isolated populations are known). Much of this range is within Monongahela National Forest
Monongahela National Forest
The Monongahela National Forest is a national forest located in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It protects over of federally-owned land within a proclamation boundary that includes much of the Potomac Highlands Region and portions of 10 counties.The MNF includes some...
.
Habitat
Originally, the CMS was probably restricted to red spruceRed Spruce
Picea rubens is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and from New England south in the Adirondack Mountains and Appalachians to western North Carolina.-Physical description:...
forests of West Virginia's higher mountains. Most of these forests were cut down by 1920, and so several populations today occur in mixed deciduous forests that have replaced red spruce stands. These include yellow birch
Yellow Birch
Betula alleghaniensis , is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, southern Quebec and Ontario, and the southeast corner of Manitoba in Canada, west to Minnesota, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia.It is a...
, American beech
American Beech
Fagus grandifolia, also known as American Beech or North american beech, is a species of beech native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in southeastern Canada, west to Wisconsin and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida in the United States. Trees in the...
, sugar maple
Sugar Maple
Acer saccharum is a species of maple native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario, and south to Georgia and Texas...
, striped maple
Striped Maple
Acer pensylvanicum is a species of maple native to northern and montane forests in eastern North America from southern Ontario east to Nova Scotia and south to Wisconsin, Ohio, and New Jersey, and also at higher elevations in the Appalachian Mountains south to northern Georgia.It is a small...
and eastern hemlock trees. The salamander’s occurrence, however, is not dependent upon any particular type of vegetation, but is often associated with boulder fields, rock outcrops, or steep, shaded ravines lined with a dense growth of rhododendron
Rhododendron
Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...
. It is more abundant adjacent to large emergent rocks where soil and litter are more moist and cooler than the surrounding hillsides. It may be that they were protected in these refugia (emergent rocks) when the original forests were cut and in some areas burned. Typically, they are found where the ground cover consists of bryophytes (moss
Moss
Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...
es, liverwort
Marchantiophyta
The Marchantiophyta are a division of bryophyte plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like other bryophytes, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information....
s, etc. -- especially the liverwort Bazzania
Bazzania
Bazzania is a genus of liverwort in the family Lepidoziaceae. It contains the following species:* Bazzania bhutanica, N. Kitag. & Grolle* Bazzania flaccida Grolle* Bazzania tricrenata Lindb....
) and an abundance of leaf litter, fallen logs and sticks.
Diet
Like other woodland salamanders, the CMS subsists on miteMite
Mites, along with ticks, are small arthropods belonging to the subclass Acari and the class Arachnida. The scientific discipline devoted to the study of ticks and mites is called acarology.-Diversity and systematics:...
s, springtail
Springtail
Springtails form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects...
s, beetle
Beetle
Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...
s, flies
Fließ
Fließ is a municipality in the Landeck district and is located5 km south of Landeck on the upper course of the Inn River. It has 9 hamlets and was already populated at the roman age; the village itself was founded around the 6th century. After a conflagration in 1933 Fließ was restored more...
, and ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s. On moist evenings it searches the forest floor, rocks and logs for food. It will occasionally climb trees, shrubs and stumps in pursuit of a meal.
Behavior and reproduction
CMSs spend the winter underground where temperatures remain above freezing. Depending on soil temperature, they emerge from winter refugia at the end of March or early April and retreat to underground refugia again in mid October. During the above ground period, they are especially active at night in humid weather. During the day, they remain under rocks and in or under logs; and sometimes among wet leaves. Aestivation only occurs during unusual drought conditions.The breeding behavior of CMSs has not been directly observed, but most likely occurs on the forest floor. Pairs of males and females have been found together under rocks in both spring and autumn and both sexes during these months are in breeding condition: males with swollen cloaca
Cloaca
In zoological anatomy, a cloaca is the posterior opening that serves as the only such opening for the intestinal, reproductive, and urinary tracts of certain animal species...
s and squared-off snouts, females with mature follicles
Ovarian follicle
Ovarian follicles are the basic units of female reproductive biology, each of which is composed of roughly spherical aggregations of cells found in the ovary. They contain a single oocyte . These structures are periodically initiated to grow and develop, culminating in ovulation of usually a single...
. Nesting activities are similar to the red-backed Salamander. The female typically lays 8 to 10 eggs (minimum 4; maximum 17) which are attached to the inside of a rotten log or the underside of a rock or log in either red spruce or deciduous forests. Females attending small clusters of eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
have been found from late April through early September. The female apparently guards the eggs until they hatch (a behavior unique to salamanders of the woodland salamander family, Plethodontidae). The young undergo their larval stage within the egg so that they resemble small adults when they hatch in late August or September.
The juveniles reach sexual maturity in 3 to 4 years and live for approximately 20 years. The young may remain in the same area as the adults until they become mature at which time they move away and establish their own territories. Territories are about 48 square feet (4.5 m²) in area. Woodland salamanders seldom leave their territories and, as a result, move only a few meters during their lives.
Conservation
Populations of the CMS probably plummeted when its original habitat (red spruceRed Spruce
Picea rubens is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and from New England south in the Adirondack Mountains and Appalachians to western North Carolina.-Physical description:...
forests) was destroyed by logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
in the early 20th Century. It is now on the U.S. Endangered Species List
United States Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered species
This list contains only the bird and mammal species described as endangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It contains species not only in the U.S. and its territories, but also species only found abroad. It does not contain fish, amphibians, reptiles, plants, or invertebrates,...
and it has been protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
since 1989. Any disturbance exposing the forest floor to sunlight changes the cool, moist conditions on which these animals depend for nest sites as well as food and respiration. Alterations as minor as clearing service roads or hiking or skiing trails can fragment and isolate populations since these salamanders do not cross bare surfaces. As populations become divided, gene pools decline as does the likelihood of viability. Such habitat alterations probably also favor the encroachment of mountain dusky and red-back salamanders which out-compete the CMS for food, cover and moisture.
Fortunately, much of the CMS’s range (46 of 60 known populations) falls within the Monongahela National Forest. A recovery plan was developed for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and annual surveys are conducted by Thomas Pauley (Marshall University
Marshall University
Marshall University is a coeducational public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States founded in 1837, and named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States....
), an authority on this species, and he indicates that its numbers appear to be stable except where habitats have been altered. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of West Virginia. While formerly known as the cabinet-level Department of Natural Resources, it is now part of the West Virginia Department of Commerce...
has also conducted population monitoring and surveys. Since both the salamander and its habitat are monitored and protected in the National Forest and the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
The Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Tucker County, West Virginia is the 500th National Wildlife Refuge to be established in the USA. The refuge preserves a moist valley with unique wetlands and uplands at a relatively high elevation in the Allegheny Mountains. It is administered by the...
, its future looks hopeful.
Other sources
- Brooks, Maurice (1965), The Appalachians (Series: The Naturalist's America), Illustrated by Lois Darling and Lo Brooks, BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
: Houghton Mifflin Company. - Green, N. B., and T. K. Pauley (1987), Amphibians and Reptiles in West Virginia, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, xi + 241 pp.
- Martof, B. S., W. M. Palmer, J. R. Bailey, and J. R. Harrison, III (1980), Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 264 pp.
- Pauley, T. K. (1985), "Distribution and Status of the Cheat Mountain Salamander", Status survey report submitted to USFWS, Dec. 1985 and Jan. 1986.
- Pauley, T. K. (1993), "Amphibians and Reptiles of the Upland Forests", pp 179-196 in S. L. Stephenson, (ed.), Upland Forests of West Virginia, McClain Printing Company, Parsons, West Virginia.
- Lannoo, Michael (ed.), Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species, University of California Press, 2005.
Photos
- NPWRC of the USGS webpage on the CMS
- Marshall University Herpetology Lab webpage on the CMS
- eNature webpage on the CMS
- West Virginia Wildlife Magazine webpage on the CMS