Each One Teach One
Amphibians Breeding in March & April
IES Block H (Spring ‘24)
Salamanders
Table of Contents
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Spotted Salamander
Ambystoma maculatum
Vasco Malik
Block H
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How do we identify this species?
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Visual ID
- Adult spotted salamanders are dark brown or black with yellow or orange spots on its back and sides, and its belly is gray. This amphibian has a broad head and smooth skin with vertical grooves on both sides of its torso.
Sounds
Insert pic(s) of your amphibian here
What is its range & habitat?
Range
Habitat Requirements
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Insert more pic(s) of your amphibian or it’s range/habitat here
What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?-Spotted salamanders get their energy from photosynthesis.
What food does it eat?-Small insects, small crustaceans, and other aquatic vertebrates.
How does it survive the winter months?
Where does it go in the winter?-Spotted salamanders migrate to breeding ponds in the end of winter and beginning of spring. What survival strategies does it have?-During the coldest months of the year Spotted salamanders will hibernate underground.
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How does it reproduce?
Describe its breeding behavior in pics or words.
Spotted salamanders tend to breed in around March to April, when the weather gets warmer and rain gets harder.
What role do the males & females play?-Male spotted salamanders provide no parental vision, leaving it to the females to take care of the babies.
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Insert pic(s) of egg mass,, breeding/courtship behavior, mating rituals, role of female vs. male, etc.
Distinguished (Choose one)
Life Cycle
What is its life cycle? How many stages does this amphibian have throughout its life?-There are four different stages in the life cycle of spotted salamanders. The first is egg, which then turns into larvae then juvenile then finally adult. What is the duration and/or requirements for each stage?-They are in the egg for around 4-7 weeks until they hatch depending on the temperature of the water. Then the larvae will take on metamorphosis, taking anywhere from 2-4 months, now becoming juvenile. And finally, from here it will take 2-4 years before the juvenile salamander reaches the maturity to become an adult.
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Sources
-https://www.bing.com/search?q=spotted+salamder+life+cycle&cvid=1e95148884074663accd3e0939270c5f&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQABhAMgYIAhAAGEAyBggDEAAYQDIGCAQQABhAMgYIBRAAGEAyBggGEAAYQDIGCAcQABhAMgYICBAAGEDSAQg4NzgzajBqOagCALACAA&FORM=ANAB01&PC=U531
-Yellow Spotted Salamander Facts, Habitat, Diet, Life Cycle, Baby, Pictures (animalspot.net)
- ADW: Ambystoma maculatum: INFORMATION (animaldiversity.org)
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Spotted Salamander
Ambystoma maculatum
Josh Byrne
IES Block H
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How do we identify this species?
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Visual ID: Spotted Salamanders have round yellow or orange spots laterally on their body. They are dark brown or black and have grey bellies when full grown.
What is its range & habitat?
Range
Spotted Salamanders are typically found in the Eastern US and Canada, often along the Atlantic coast and southeastern states (excluding Florida).
Habitat Requirements
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What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?
It eats things like worms, snails, slugs, spiders, ants, and other small creatures.
How does it survive the winter months?
They love to burrow during winter, even going as much as 15 inches underground.
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How does it reproduce?
Females lay eggs after fertilization from male sperm. They lay 100-300 eggs per year, and typically lay them underwater.
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Distinguished (Choose one)
Life Cycle
What is its life cycle? Within 4-7 weeks the eggs hatch, and the larvae are born into the water, beginning life with gills. In 2-4 months, those gills are gone, and the larvae become juveniles who dwell on land. After 2-3 years have passed, the juveniles with become breeding adults, who may then spawn eggs, and die.
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Thanks!
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Sources
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Jefferson Salamander
Ambystoma Jeffersonianum
Liam Wheeler
IES Block H
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How do we identify this species?
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Visual ID
Insert pic(s) of your amphibian here
What is its range & habitat?
Range
Habitat Requirements
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Insert more pic(s) of your amphibian or it’s range/habitat here
What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?
Jefferson Salamanders are carnivorous, meaning they eat only meat. They are known to cannibalize in desperate times.
How does it survive the winter months?
They will burrow 18 inches into the ground during the winter to avoid frost.
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How does it reproduce?
Eggs are usually laid into vernal ponds in the spring in groups of 5-60 eggs. Mole salamanders like the jefferson salamander have a unique method sometimes used where a male and female from two different species can create a salamander possessing an unusual amount of chromosomes , which results in different features.
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Insert pic(s) of egg mass,, breeding/courtship behavior, mating rituals, role of female vs. male, etc.
Interesting fun facts?
Jefferson Salamanders are actually nocturnal and are only out and about in the day during mating season.
Jefferson Salamanders can be seen “snowshoeing” across frozen ponds to reach breeding sites. Typically, they are first to head out of their winter dens.
Here, one migrates across a road in burlington.
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Jefferson Salamander
Ambystoma jeffersonianum
Desmond Early
IES Block
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How do we identify this species?
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Visual ID
Sounds
Quiet ticking or popping sound
What is its range & habitat?
Range
Habitat Requirements
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What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?
They eat slugs and worms
There predators Raccoons, shrews,skunks
How does it survive the winter months?
They go wetland breeding ponds. The wetlands can not have prey in them.
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How does it reproduce?
They spend their time outside hiding underneath the ground or leaf
They mate every other year
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Fun facts and the jefferson salamander
Males tend to be smaller than females and have conspicuously swollen vents during the breeding season.
The Jefferson salamander is named after Jefferson College in Pennsylvania.
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Thanks!
Any questions? no
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Sources
https://www.mass.gov/doc/jefferson-salamander-complex/download
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Blue Spotted Salamander
Ambystoma lateral
Tegan Miller
H Block
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How do we identify this species?
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Visual ID
Sounds
Insert pic(s) of your amphibian here
What is its range & habitat?
Range
Habitat Requirements
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What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?
It’s a carnivore, and eats worms and insects. It’s predators are skunks, racoons, turtles, and snakes
How does it survive the winter months?
They hibernate somewhere that doesn’t freeze
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How does it reproduce?
As soon as early spring hits, Blue Spotted Salamanders will migrate to the woods, where there are temporary breeding pools. Eggs are often clumped together beneath leaves or at the base of tussocks. They are mostly unisexual, all female, but require a related species to fertilize their eggs.
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Insert pic(s) of egg mass,, breeding/courtship behavior, mating rituals, role of female vs. male, etc.
Interesting fun facts?
The bright spots on a blue spotted salamander serve as a warning to prey about the toxins they release when in danger.
They spend most of their year under ground
They are cold blooded.
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Any questions?
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Sources
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Blue-Spotted Salamander
Ambystoma Laterale
Luke R Hecker
IES Block: H
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How do we identify the blue-spotted salamander?
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Visual ID
Sounds
What is its range & habitat?
Range
Habitat Requirements
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Insert more pic(s) of your amphibian or it’s range/habitat here
What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?
The blue spotted salamander is a carnivore. It eats worms, snails, slugs, insects, centipedes, and spiders.
How does it survive the winter months?
In the winter, the blue spotted salamander hibernates. Before winter they increase their eating and reproducing
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How does it reproduce?
Blue spotted salamanders breed in spring in a breeding pool. The courting begins with the male nudging the females snout before they assume their positions. The female later lays eggs at the bottom of the breeding pool attached to sticks, plants, or rocks
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Blue Spotted Salamander Life Cycle
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Any questions?
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Sources
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Four Toed Salamander
Hemidactylium scutatum
Grace Perreault
Block H
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How do we identify this species?
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Visual ID
What is its range & habitat?
Range
Habitat Requirements
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What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?
Eats insects and their larvae, hunts different types of worms and spiders.
How does it survive the winter months?
They gather together under leaf litter and logs, spend the coldest months underground.
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How does it reproduce?
Four toed salamanders mate in autumn, typically in upland forest habitats. Before they mate, the male salamander will rub his nose against the female’s nose. After they mate, females will lay between 18 and 41 eggs in mosses or rotten wood.
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Interesting fun facts:
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Any questions?
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Sources
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Eastern Newt
Notophthalmus Viridescens
Piper pauly
IES Block H
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How do we identify this species?
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Visual ID
What is its range & habitat?
Range
Habitat Requirements
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What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?
They eat smaller aquatic insects and other smaller invertebrates. For example bugs, worms, frogs, small fish, ect.
How does it survive the winter months?
They survive by burrowing under logs and rocks.
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How does it reproduce?
Eastern newts breed from late winter to early spring. Males actively court females with tail movements and wiggles, as well as by emitting pheromones.
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Insert pic(s) of egg mass,, breeding/courtship behavior, mating rituals, role of female vs. male, etc.
Thanks!
Any questions?
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Sources
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Eastern Newt
Notophthalmus Viridescens
Finley Peterson
H Block
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How do we identify this species?
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Visual ID
-The are deaf therefore they don’t communicate through sound.
What is its range & habitat?
Range
Habitat Requirements
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What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?
They eat amphibian eggs as well as smaller aquatic insects and other smaller invertebrates. Ex: bugs, worms, frogs, small fish, ect.
The eastern newts predators are larger amphibians, birds, and fish
How does it survive the winter months?
They survive by burrowing under logs and rocks.
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How does it reproduce?
The breed in late winter. The female then lays between 200 and 350 jelly-covered eggs. They lay a few eggs each day scattered in a disorderly fashion. They lay their eggs on vegetation submerged by water each season. The eggs then will hatch in 3-5 weeks.
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Life Cycle
The Eastern Newt life cycle has four distinct stages. They start out as an egg. They then hatch into an aquatic larvae and go on to grow into an eft. The final stage of their lifecycle is an adult newt.
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Eastern Red-backed Salamander
Plethodon cinereus
Luke Pomeroy
H
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How do we identify this species?
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Visual ID
Dark red/ brown with line running down the middle of its back, 6 or less inches large, blends into dirt and leaves well.
What is its range & habitat?
Range
Habitat Requirements
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Insert more pic(s) of your amphibian or it’s range/habitat here
What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?
They eat arachnids, worms, snails, larvae and insects.
Who are its …prey? …predators? Snakes and other salamanders are reported to be its main predators.
How does it survive the winter months?
Where does it go in the winter? What survival strategies does it have?
They travel under frozen ground in order to survive in the colder weather.
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How does it reproduce?
It breeds by finding another salamander and then the male leaves the sperm on the ground and the female comes and picks it up.
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Distinguished (Choose one)
Life Cycle
Food Chain/Web
Conservation Status
Interesting fun facts?
What is its life cycle? They usually hatch from their eggs after about 6 weeks, then leave the nest 4 weeks later, and become sexually mature 2 years later. They can live up to 20 years and more if they are assisted by humans.
What is its conservation status? It is not very threatened or endangered.
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The Red-Backed Salamander
Plethodon cinereus
Khloi Bruso
Block H
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How do we identify this species?
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Visual ID
Sounds
What is its range & habitat?
They are found from Minnesota to North Carolina. They are also found in Quebec and Nova Scotia in Canada.
Because of their lack of lungs they have to live in a damp and musty climate. And they are found under damp logs and branches.
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What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?
They have a wide variety of insects and bugs. The eat worms, snails, larva, and other small insects.
How does it survive the winter months?
In the winter months it goes under the frozen cold ground.
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How does it reproduce?
Females lay eggs in dark, damp environments, including logs crevices and under rocks. Unlike many other amphibian species, there is no aquatic larval stage for eastern red-backed salamanders. Females lay eggs in dark, damp environments, including within log crevices and under rocks.
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Slimy salamander
Plethodon glutinosus
Kelton Maxham
H block
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How do we identify this species?
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Visual ID
Sounds
none
Insert pic(s) of your amphibian here
What is its range & habitat?
Range
Habitat Requirements
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Insert more pic(s) of your amphibian or it’s range/habitat here
What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?
It mostly eats spiders and earthworms, snakes are its main predator.
How does it survive the winter months?
In winter they go into their burrows and hibernate, and they also use them to evade predators, when threatened they lash out with their tail and secrete a sticky gluey substance that binds the jaws of the predator
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Insert relevant pics
How does it reproduce?
They breed during spring, open water is not needed for laying eggs they usually put them in rotting logs. When the juveniles emerge they might even have more white flecks then the adults. They lay from 13-34 eggs.
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Insert pic(s) of egg mass,, breeding/courtship behavior, mating rituals, role of female vs. male, etc.
Thanks!
Any questions?
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Sources
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Northern two lined Salamander
Eurycea bislineata
Ella McGrath
IES block H
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How do we identify this species?
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Visual ID
Insert pic(s) of your amphibian here
What is its range & habitat?
Range
Habitat Requirements
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Insert more pic(s) of your amphibian or it’s range/habitat here
What are its survival strategies?
How does it get its energy to live?
Normally they eat insects like arachnids, mites, and sometimes other salamanders. It’s predators are birds owls and snakes
How does it survive the winter months?
During the winter months they usually they stay underground near streams
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How does it reproduce?
One year after metamorphosis fertilization occurs after the female collects the sperm that a male drops in her cloaca. The breeding season lasts from October through May with females typically laying 30 or more eggs in April or May.
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Insert pic(s) of egg mass,, breeding/courtship behavior, mating rituals, role of female vs. male, etc.
Thanks!
Any questions?
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