long-tailed salamander
Eurycea longicauda
Summary 5
The long-tailed salamander, or longtail salamander,Eurycea longicauda, is a species of lungless salamander native to the Appalachian Region of the eastern United States. This is a "cave salamander" that frequents twilight zones of caves and also inhabits springs and surrounding forest. Body color varies from yellow to orange-red to red with random black spots.
Distribution 6
Global Range: (200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)) Southern New York to Missouri, south to Arkansas, Tennessee, extreme northeastern Mississippi, northern Alabama, extreme northwestern Georgia, western North Carolina, and northwestern Virginia (Carlin 1997).
Conservation status 7
Long-tailed salamanders remain locally abundant, but populations have declined due to habitat loss from strip mining, acid drainage from coal mining, and clear cutting. This species has been listed as threatened in both Kansas and New Jersey and is a species of special concern in North Carolina. In New Jersey, long-tailed salamanders were listed as a threatened species in 1979. This was attributed to the decline of natural habitats and pollution of larval ponds. The New Jersey Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act helped protect long-tailed salamanders in New Jersey by outlawing the development of wetland areas and "buffers." Buffers are protected areas within 150 feet of wetlands. In Kansas, the long-tailed salamanders are protected by the Kansas Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act. This act requires project developers to obtain a permit from the Environmental Services Section of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks anytime a development project is proposed that will impact the natural habitats of the species.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Sources and Credits
- (c) 2013 Todd Pierson, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=579533&one=T
- (c) 2008 William Flaxington, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=106814&one=T
- (c) Matthew Niemiller, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/imgs/512x768/0000_0000/0110/2801.jpeg
- (c) 2010 Todd Pierson, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=340906&one=T
- Adapted by Marie Studer from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurycea_longicauda
- (c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/14622432
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/18647801
