Amphibians of North Carolina
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NC Records

Pseudotriton montanus - Mud Salamander

Taxonomy
Class: Amphibia Order: Caudata Family: Plethodontidae Subfamily: Spelerpinae
Taxonomic Comments: Pseudotriton montanus exhibits marked geographic variation in color pattern and body size and four subspecies are currently recognized (see below). Detailed molecular studies of geographic variation in this species have not been conducted, and it is uncertain if the four recognized subspecies reflect four clades with concordant underlying genetic variation or not. Like virtually all wide-ranging plethodontids, this species will likely show substantial regional genetic differentiation given the low dispersal rates of plethodontid salamanders and morphological variation that is already documented for this species.
Species Comments:
Identification
Description: The Mud Salamander is a stout-bodied, short-tailed salamander that has an orangish brown to bright crimson dorsum that is usually marked with widely-scattered, rounded black or brown spots (Petranka 1998). Populations in Florida and southern Georgia normally are not spotted. The eyes are brown and the tail comprises about 40% of the TL. The venter is light orange to pinkish orange and may or may not have black spotting depending on the subspecies. The juveniles and young adults are typically more brightly colored than the older adults. The adults vary from 7.5-19.5 cm TL and the mean number of costal grooves is 16-17. Adult females from western South Carolina that were measured by Bruce (1975) averaged 19% greater in SVL than the adult males.

Four subspecies are currently recognized (Petranka 1998). The Eastern Mud Salamander (P. m. montanus) is a large subspecies (maximum TL = 20 cm) that occurs along much of the Atlantic Seaboard to eastern Georgia. The juveniles and young adults have a clouded, orangish red to red dorsum with scattered black spots. The older adults are usually dark reddish brown and have more numerous spots that are less conspicuous. The venter is often spotted or flecked with brown. The Midland Mud Salamander (P. m. diastictus) is intermediate in size (maximum TL = 16 cm) and is found west of the Eastern Continental Divide from eastern and central Tennessee northward to southern Ohio and southeastern Indiana. The adults are bright crimson red, have fewer dorsal spots than P. m. montanus, and have an unspotted venter. The Gulf Coast Mud Salamander (P. m. flavissimus) is a relatively small and slender subspecies (maximum TL = 12 cm) that is found in the Coastal Plain and lower Piedmont from southeastern South Carolina to eastern Louisiana. The adults have a light orangish brown or reddish brown dorsum with widely scattered dark spots or flecks and an unspotted venter. The Rusty Mud Salamander (P. m. floridanus) is also a small and slender form (maximum TL = 12 cm) and is restricted to southern Georgia and northern Florida. The dorsum is dark yellowish or orangish brown and lacks dark spots on the body. Scattered dark spots are sometimes present on the tail. The sides of the head and body are mottled, blotched, or streaked with dull yellow coloration and the venter is marked with small, irregular dark spots. The Eastern Mud Salamander is the only subspecies that occurs in North Carolina.

Hatchling of P. m. montanus are 10-13 mm SVL (Bruce 1974, 1978b) and are the stream type with the dorsal fin confined to the tail. They are light brown above and immaculate. The older larvae are light brown above and often have dark, widely scattered spots similar to those of young adults. Populations in the upper Piedmont of North and South Carolina may have a streaked or reticulate pattern, with streaking particularly evident along the sides (Petranka 1998). Those in the lower Piedmont and Coastal Plain generally have little or no streaking, although streaked individuals are occasionally encountered.
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AmphibiaWeb Account
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution Comments: Pseudotriton montanus is absent from most of the higher elevations of the Appalachian Mountains and populations are isolated into two geographic groups. The western group occurs from southwestern West Virginia and southern Ohio westward to central Kentucky and southward to eastern and central Tennessee. The eastern group occurs predominantly in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont from extreme southern Pennsylvania and New Jersey southwestward to Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The range extends westward in North and South Carolina to the lower elevations of the southern Blue Ridge and northward in Alabama beyond the Coastal Plain provinces. In North Carolina, populations are most common in the Coastal Plain and eastern Piedmont. A few scattered populations have been found in floodplain forests and other suitable sites at lower elevations in the mountains.
Distribution Reference: Beane et al. (2010); Petranka (1998)
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
GBIF Global Distribution
Key Habitat Requirements
Habitat: The Mud Salamander is most commonly found in muddy or mucky environs in or along the margins of swamps, bogs, springs, floodplain forests, and small headwater tributaries (Petranka 1998). Populations generally occur below 700 m (2300’) above sea level. In central Kentucky this species is often found in rocky, spring-fed headwater tributaries or in the floodplains of larger streams that lack muddy microhabitats. The juveniles and adults rarely disperse far from their wetland habitats into the surrounding forest. They have occasionally been found beneath logs and stones in floodplains and swamplands, but generally tend to be fossorial with a strong tendency to live in underground burrows in or immediately adjoining wetland habitats.
See also Habitat Account for General Wet-Hydric Forests
Life History and Autecology
Breeding and Courtship: Very limited observations suggest that mating occurs primarily during the late summer and autumn and that the adults in most populations breed annually (Petranka 1998). Males in South Carolina have vasa deferentia packed with sperm from mid-August through November (Bruce 1975), which is presumably the time when North Carolina populations breed. Courtship behavior has not been described.
Reproductive Mode: Females oviposit during the autumn or early winter shortly after mating and the embryos hatch during the winter. The eggs have rarely been found, presumably because most females nest in cryptic, underground sites. The eggs lack dark pigmentation and are attached to the substrate by a gelatinous stalk that is about about 4 mm long (Petranka 1998).

Fowler (1946) found a group of about 25 eggs on 27 December in Maryland. The eggs were in a small cavity in a seep at the base of a hillside and were attached either singly or in groups of as many as six to rootlets that formed the wet walls of the cavity. Developmental stages of the embryos varied from being freshly laid to near hatching and were the product of at least two females. Eggs were found on 23 December and 1 February in central North Carolina (Brimley 1923). These were bunched together and attached to dead leaves in a spring-fed ditch. Another clutch of 27 late-term eggs were found on 14 January in Florida in a boggy, sphagnum-filled seep (Goin 1947). The eggs were suspended singly by short stalks to rootlets that hung down into the water from the edge of an undercut bank and were accompanied by a female.

Bruce (1974) collected hatchling P. m. montanus in the Piedmont of South Carolina in March that averaged about 13 mm SVL and were estimated to be several weeks old. Bruce (2008) found most young larvae at a Coastal Plain site in North Carolina in a seep next to a swamp and surmised that females oviposited in subsurface channels that connected to the seep. Hatching in this population probably occurred in mid-winter based on the size of larvae that were collected in late March.

The Mud Salamander has one of the highest average clutch sizes of North American plethodontids (Petranka 1998). The mean number of ovarian eggs in 30 females examined by Bruce (1975) ranged from 77-192, averaged 126, and was positively correlated with female SVL. The only other record is 66 ova in a Kentucky specimen (Robinson and Reichard 1965).
Aquatic Life History: The larvae live in sluggish aquatic habitats where they have been found beneath rocks, in leaf litter, and in aquatic vegetation. Mucky seepages, flooded ditches, floodplain ponds, bottomland swamp complexes, and small, sluggish streams in floodplains are commonly used. The hatchlings have conspicuous yolk sacs and probably rely on yolk as a primary energy source for 1 month or more after hatching (Petranka 1998). The older larvae feed primarily on aquatic invertebrates.

Bruce (1974, 1978b) found substantial differences in the growth and developmental rates of Piedmont and Blue Ridge populations that likely reflect temperature differences between sites. Most larvae in Piedmont populations in South Carolina metamorphosed from mid-May through early September after 15-17 months of growth and when 35-44 mm SVL. A small percentage grew an additional year before transforming. Individuals in a nearby Blue Ridge population in North Carolina grew slower and most metamorphosed after 29-30 months when about the same size as the Piedmont populations. In another study that was conducted at a Coastal Plain site in North Carolina, the larval period of most larvae lasted only 14-17 months, with larvae metamorphosing during the spring of their second year of growth when 41-49 mm SVL. Larvae of P. m. floridanus typically grow to 38-42.5 mm SVL before transforming (Netting and Goin 1942).
Terrestrial Life History: In the Carolinas, the juveniles and adults live in moist or wet soils next to springs, sluggish streams, swampy sloughs and ponds in bottomland forests. Bruce (1975) observed animals in western South Carolina in vertical burrows that were in soft, damp mud. Most specimens were found within 1 m of the water's edge, but a few were found 15-20 m away in the surrounding forest soil. Burrows that Bruce (1975) observed led downward into a complex series of water-filled channels that provided access to the surrounding watercourses. Individuals often posed at the entrances to burrows that were hidden by leaf litter, and rapidly withdrew their heads when exposed. Young juveniles showed less of a tendency to burrow and lived beneath leaves and debris at the margins of water courses.

South Carolina males that were studied by Bruce (1975) matured sexually within 1 year after transforming and reproduce annually thereafter. Age at first reproduction varied from 20-32 months depending on the length of the larval period. Most females laid their first clutch when about 4-years old. Subsequent reproduction was irregular, with females usually laying annually, but occasionally skipping years.

Very little is known about the adult diet, but individuals presumably feed primarily on invertebrates. Dunn (1926) notes that adults may also prey on smaller salamanders, including Eurycea cirrigera.
General Ecology
Population Ecology: Mud salamanders are eaten by garter snakes and water snakes (Petranka 1998). The juveniles and adults have a defensive posture that is somewhat similar to that of the Red Salamander (Brandon et al. 1979b). When molested, individuals assume a coiled position by tucking their snouts against or beneath the body. They may also extend the rear limbs and curl the tail above or around the head. Mud salamanders produce toxic skin secretions (Brandon and Huheey 1981) and are thought to be part of a Mullerian mimicry complex involving the Eastern Newt, the Spring Salamander, and both Pseudotriton species. Details of the complex are presented under the discussion of the Red Salamander.
Adverse Environmental Impacts
Habitat Loss: Since European colonization, populations have undoubtedly experienced long-term declines associated with deforestation, urbanization, agricultural activities, and the filling and draining of wetlands. Small wetlands like those used by this species are largely unprotected. From the 1950s–1970s the loss of wetlands in the Southeast was greater than in any other region of the country, with a net annual loss of 386,000 ac/yr (Hefner and Brown 1985). In North Carolina approximately 51% of all wetland acreage on the Coastal Plain has been lost. Wetland losses in the mountains have been extensive, and many of the forested floodplain habitats that may have previously supported populations have long since been converted to agricultural fields and urban areas.
Status in North Carolina
NHP State Rank: S5
Global Rank: G5
Environmental Threats: Habitat loss associated with the conversion of hardwood forests to agricultural lands and the filling of wetlands appear to be the greatest threats.

Photo Gallery for Pseudotriton montanus - Mud Salamander

9 photos are shown.

Recorded by: Max Ramey
Avery Co.		Recorded by: Max Ramey
Watauga Co.
Recorded by: Max Ramey
Watauga Co.		Recorded by: Max Ramey
Watauga Co.
Recorded by: Max Ramey
Watauga Co.		Recorded by: B. Bockhahn, N. Williamson, L. Purvis et al
Moore Co.
Recorded by: B. Bockhahn, N. Williamson, L. Purvis et al
Moore Co.		Recorded by: Jim Petranka
Buncombe Co.
Recorded by: ASH
Moore Co.