Species
Chattahoochee slimy salamander
Plethodon chattahoochee
A black, sticky-skinned woodland salamander of the north Georgia mountains, found almost nowhere else.
Photo Leila Dasher (opens in a new tab) / iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab)
At a glance
- Size
- Usually 11 to 17 cm long
- Habitat
- Moist forests of the Blue Ridge
- Diet
- Ants, beetles, worms and other small invertebrates
- In Georgia
- The Blue Ridge of north Georgia
- Rabies vector
- No
Identification
- Key marks
- Black with few or no white flecks, sometimes with brassy speckles
- Told apart from
- Northern slimy salamander, which has more white flecks and lives farther west
- Where to look
- Under logs and rocks in mountain woods
Behaviour
Like other slimy salamanders it has no lungs, hunts on the forest floor on wet nights and defends itself with a thick, sticky slime.
Why they matter
Almost its whole range lies within the mountains of north Georgia, so the state holds nearly all of them.
Reproduction and lifecycle
Eggs — Laid underground and guarded by the female
Hatching — As tiny copies of the adults
Young — No aquatic stage
Maturity — At a few years
Lifespan — Many years
Breathing — Through the skin; no lungs
Living around people
- Put back any log or rock you turn over, gently and exactly where it was.
Misconceptions
- Salamanders that look alike are all the same species. The slimy salamanders are a group of look-alike species.
Related species
Seasonal activity
When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breeding | Jan: no | Feb: no | Mar: no | Apr: no | May: no | Jun: no | Jul: no | Aug: no | Sep: no | Oct: no | Nov: no | Dec: no |
| Active nests | Jan: no | Feb: no | Mar: no | Apr: no | May: no | Jun: no | Jul: no | Aug: no | Sep: no | Oct: no | Nov: no | Dec: no |
| Notes | Underground in cold weather | Active on mild wet nights | Active on wet nights | Active | Active | Laying eggs underground | Underground in dry weather | Underground in dry weather | Young hatching | Active on wet nights | Active on wet nights | Underground in cold weather |
Where it lives
Recorded in 2 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.
United States
If you found one
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