Marbled Salamander

Key Characteristics: Black with silvery crossbands on back.

Adults: 8.5-12.7 cm. Marbled Salamanders are a small-sized mole salamander with thick bodies and wide heads. The ground color is black or dark brown with silvery-white to gray bands across the head and back and white rings around the tail. The belly is dark with some light speckling.

Larvae: Larvae are brown or grayish with light spots on the sides and tail.

Eggs: Females lay 50-200 eggs in a loose cluster under moss, a rotten log or other cover along the edge of a depression. The female may stay with the eggs until the depression floods.

Distribution: Generally eastern US from gulf states north through PA and MA excluding florida and western appalachia. In New York they are only found in the Catskill region and on Long Island. They are more widely distributed in PA.

Habitat: Most common in moderately extensive tracts of moist lowland forest, but also occurs in upland areas on wooded, rocky hillsides and ridges.

Ecology: Marbled Salamanders are more tolerant of xeric conditions than Spotted Salamanders and can be found throughout the summer, often in surprisingly dry situations. This may be in part because the Marbled Salamander is a fall breeder, and fall and winter rains insure breeding pools of sufficient duration for the transformation of larvae, whereas the spring-breeding Spotted Salamander is dependent on more mesic habitats that guarantee the presence of water well into the summer. However, the Marbled Salamander is less tolerant of low temperatures, probably because cold conditions may freeze their breeding pools and cause egg mortality during the winter. Like other members of this genus, vernal pools within or adjacent to these forest tracts are a critical component of their habitat.

Reproduction: Migrate into floodplains and swamps in the fall (September through October), congregating around the edges of ponds and depressions that are subject to flooding with the onset of Autumn rains. Unlike most other Ambystoma salamanders, breeding takes place on land. Eggs are laid in protected cavities under bark, logs, or other objects at the edge or bottom of the dry pond bed. Eggs are not surrounded with gelatinous masses, and form only loose clusters. The female remains with the eggs until the pond is inundated and rising water covers them. Time to hatching is variable, depending on temperature and water levels, but is at least two weeks. Metamorphosis occurs in late spring or early summer.