One of the rarest, if not the rarest amphibian in Ohio is
the green salamander (Aneides aeneus). This state endangered species is found in 3
Ohio Counties: Adams, Scioto and Lawrence.
But its range within these counties is very scarce, and in Scioto and
Lawrence counties, the population is limited to just a few locations. In Adams County, where the Edge of Appalachia
Preserve lies, there are at least 22 known locations of the green
salamander. I am qualifying locations
as stretches of dolostone cliffs that are separated by soil where the exposed
rock ends. Why stop where the exposed
rock ends? The green salamander is a
rock specialist, spending the majority of its life in the cracks and tight
spots of cliffs. It even lays its eggs
in the cliffs, gluing them to the top of a crack's ceiling where the female
stays with the eggs until well after hatching.
Since this is not in an aquatic habitat, which is where most other
amphibians lay eggs, the larva go through their “tadpole” stage within the egg
instead of in water. With this said,
these salamanders do leave the cliffs to forage for food. But of the hundreds of times I’ve seen them,
I can count on one hand the number of times they were not on cliffs.
On the preserve, we are searching for new locations of green
salamander within its range. On October
20, 2015, Rich McCarty of The Nature Conservancy and I were surveying a set of
cliffs on the preserve that, to my knowledge, have never been searched for the
elusive greens. The habitat seemed
right, the cliff was well within its known range, the temperature was 70F, so
we knew the salamanders should be there.
The hunt was on. After 20 minutes
of searching roughly 40 yards of cliff, we found 2 adult green salamanders. A new location had been added.
On November 18, 2015 it was another unseasonable 70F day, so
I decided to pick another location lacking of green salamander data. Accompanied by a student volunteer from Shawnee
State University, Maria Frazier, we hiked to search the cracks of this
unexplored cliff system. This location
had about 70 yards of exposed rock which, on a late November day was turning up
no amphibians. After an hour of
searching we found a Northern dusky salamander (Desmognathus fuscus) tucked way back in the crack of a thin split
rock. At least it was a salamander, and one
Maria had not seen before. We were just
about to accept defeat for the day when, in the last 5 yards of rock, a green
salamander was found. Stretching along a
thin yet shallow crack, this 2.5 inch individual was exposed enough to see the entire
body. Not even 10 more inches to this
critters right was another salamander. This
salamander's head was exposed and from the looks of it, it was a very large
adult. So 2 green salamanders were in
this new location. I would assume, that
on a hot summer evening, it would be pretty easy to find many more individuals.
The ability to hide in the tightest of cracks makes hunting
this salamander a bit difficult. But
with a little hard work and a lot of luck, finding new locations is possible. Of course, being an endangered species, these
new locations are not posted to the public.
But keeping record of this rare species' habits, habitats and locations
will help Ohio herpetologists understand more on its abundance and cause for
protection. Undoubtedly, more locations
will soon be added as the preserve continues to grow in size and this growth
includes numerous amounts of cliff.
For more information about green salamanders, check out Amphibians
of Ohio, 2013 from Ohio Biological Survey’s website here. This book contains an enormous amount of
information about all of Ohio’s amphibians.
Posted by: Mark Zloba
