Family Ambystomatidae: Mole Salamanders
Order Caudata: Salamanders
Description: Medium to large-sized, stocky salamanders with prominent costal grooves, robust limbs and bodies, and broad heads. Members of this family are referred to as ?mole? salamanders because they typically remain underground except when breeding, although they can frequently be found on the ground following heavy rains or where the water table is near the surface.
Most members of this family breed during the late winter or early spring (as early as February or mid March), but the Marbled Salamander breeds in late fall. Courtship and egg laying typically takes place under water in vernal pools (except the Marbled Salamander ? see the species account). Males deposit sperm packets placed on the tip of a stalk of jelly (spermatophore) and, following a brief courtship ritual, the female picks up the sperm with the cloaca. Fertilization is internal, and the eggs are laid in small to large clumps attached to litter on the bottom of the breeding pond (again, the Marbled Salamander is an exception). Larvae typically transform into terrestrial adults in mid to late summer.
Mole salamanders eat a variety of invertebrates: slugs, snails, worms, insects, millipedes, and spiders. Larvae feed on crustaceans, insect larvae, mollusks, the eggs and larvae of other amphibians, and occasionally small fish and other vertebrates. Some may be long-lived (20 or more years).
Family Ambystomatidae, Mole Salamanders
Key Characteristics: Dark brown, gray or black with few bluish flecks along sides; toes long.
Habitat: Undisturbed deciduous forest, especially moist, well-drained forested uplands.
Key Characteristics: Black or grayish black with many blue or bluish-white spots on sides, back and tail; toes long.
Habitat: Blue-spotted Salamanders occupy coniferous, mixed and deciduous forest, in moist lowlands to moderately dry uplands. In western New York they appear to be more abundant in bottomland forest and wooded swamps.
Key Characteristics: Blackish or grayish with two rows of yellow spots on back.
Habitat: Spotted Salamanders occur in moist closed-canopy mixed or deciduous forest. They are typically found in lowland forest but can tolerate moderately dry upland conditions as well. These salamanders are less common in swamp forests that are subject to frequent flooding.
Key Characteristics: Black with silvery crossbands on back.
Habitat: Most common in moderately extensive tracts of moist lowland forest, but also occurs in upland areas on wooded, rocky hillsides and ridges.
Key Characteristics: Dark brown or black with irregularly shaped yellow blotches scattered across the back and sides;belly olive-yellow.
Habitat: A salamander of open habitats: marshes, grasslands and pastures.