Atlas of Amphibians in Tennessee - Austin Peay State University
AmphibiaWeb - University of California
Ohio Amphibians - Jeff Davis & Greg Lipps
Caudata Culture
Wikipedia
ARKive
Tennessee Amphibians & Reptiles - Matthew Niemiller
The Streamside Salamander is my baby. Haha... I spent two of the best years of my life wading in very cold streams in Middle TN, counting eggs and looking for little baby salamanders. We now know that the species is found in Bedford County (a publication I've submitted) & Marshall County (which I will submit someday when it moves higher on my priority list), and it has since also been discovered in a couple other counties. I'll keep those to myself for now, for the sake of the discoverers, who may want to publish the findings :-)In any case, the Streamside Salamander is the only species in its family that routinely breeds in streams. They breed in the winter because the streams dry up in the summer. This is actually vital for them because permanent streams would have fish in them, and fish like to eat baby salamanders.
Photos by Matt Niemiller (top) & Daniel Estabrooks (bottom)
I just found the Streamside Salamander in a store parking lot in Clarkrange, TN. This is actually Fentress County. I fear he (or she) is going to die. I know that he appeared to be cold and moving very very slow across the parking lot. Its is Nov. 22, 2015 and the first night the weather has called for snow. This makes me believe he may have gotten too cold and I'm not sure what he was doing so far away from any water source that I know of.
ReplyDeleteI brought him (or her) home and placed some warm water that it can get into or drink, and it is in front of my gas heater. I hope I can save this Streamside Salamander, but he had went from moving extremely slow fairly constantly, to not moving at all unless i move the container around.