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Plethodon shermani Stejneger, 1906
Red-legged Salamander
Federal Protection: No US federal protection
State Protection: No Georgia state protection
Global Rank: G3
State Rank: S1
Element Locations Tracked in Biotics: Yes
SWAP 2015 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): No
SWAP 2025 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): Yes
2025 SGCN Priority Tier: Moderate Conservation Concern
Element Occurrences (EOs) in Georgia: 3
Habitat Summary for element in Georgia: Mesic, high elevational forests
The red-legged salamander (of the Plethodon jordani complex) is a large woodland salamander (genus Plethodon), reaching total lengths of as much as 17.2 cm (6.8 inches). Specimens of the Plethodon jordani and Plethodon glutinous complexes from northeastern Georgia exhibit considerable intraspecific variation of physical characters, especially within zones of hybridization, which may complicate the identification of certain individual salamanders. While some of the Georgia P. shermani lack red markings entirely, many possess distinct irregular red blotches on the proximal upper surfaces of the legs, but not to the extent exhibited by individuals from the same population isolate within North Carolina, where some 96% of individuals have extensive red markings. Individuals have between 14-16 costal grooves, with belly and throat pale gray with a tint of salmon (strongest on the throat). Hatchlings and small juveniles of Georgia specimens have the same black dorsal pigmentation typical of adults and may possess unpaired irregular red dorsal spots on the anterior third of the trunk, but the red markings on the dorsal surfaces of the limbs are absent. Instead, an unpigmented irregular white area is present which corresponds to the typical red marking on adult limbs, and a faint pink line borders the juvenile white area of the legs.
The red-legged salamander is parapatric (i.e., contiguous, but not overlapping ranges) with the Chattahoochee slimy salamander (P. chattahoochee) where the species’ ranges come together on Standing Indian Mountain, NC. The Chattahoochee slimy salamander is a medium sized woodland salamander reaching total lengths of 5.2 inches (13.2 cm). It is characterized as lacking dark pigmentation on the throat and having a belly lighter than the ground color of its black back. Additionally, the white or brassy spotting on this species’ back is either lacking or very reduced, however, its flanks are abundantly covered with white or yellowish spotting.
The red-legged salamander occurs in cool, mesic hardwood forests in mountainous terrain. Populations are typically associated with high elevations, but are found at the lowest elevations in the southern portion of the complex’s range (i.e., Georgia). Although these salamanders spend roughly 70 to 80% of their lives in underground burrows, they depend heavily on woody debris such as fallen logs and on an accumulation of leaf litter on the forest floor which function as refugia and as a foraging substrate.
Food items utilized by North Carolina populations include arthropods taken from the forest floor consisting of ants, millipedes, centipedes, spiders, springtails, mites, snails, and a variety of insect larvae.
The tails of large eastern Plethodon species, including those of the P. jordani complex, produce slimy secretions that are noxious and function as a deterrent to predators. Nonetheless, the red-legged salamander is occasionally preyed upon by a variety of predators, including birds, snakes, small mammals, and other salamander species. Studies have suggested that populations of members of the P. jordani complex exhibiting aposematic coloration (e.g., red pigmentation) are noxious to potential predators.
Members of the P. jordani complex are known to regularly forage above the forest floor by climbing plants and tree trunks; adults have been collected on trunks and low branches of shrubs up to 3.5 ft (1 m) from the ground and juveniles from the leaves of herbs to a height of 1 ft (0.3 m). Salamanders of the P. jordani complex are considerably more abundant and individual home ranges smaller (one individual for every 12.5 ft2 [1.16 m2]), where found in sympatry with members of the P. gluntinous complex (one individual for every 46.3 ft2 [1.16 m2]), with home ranges from 123 ft2 (11.4 m2) to 18.3 ft2 (1.7 m2) depending on age and sex. Woodland salamanders remain in subsurface retreats during the day and generally restrict their surface activity to moist forest floor microhabitats, emerging at night to forage on invertebrates within the leaf litter during rainy weather or when relative humidity is high. Individuals forage from burrow entrances when conditions are dry. Georgia populations often remain active on the ground surface throughout the winter months except during periods of freezing weather. These salamanders take refuge within subterranean burrows, where they do not feed, when the forest floor is dry or when temperatures are unfavorable.
Courtship of members of the P. jordani complex has been observed in the field from mid-July through early October, and usually occurs at night between dusk and dawn. Eggs of this complex have never been found in the wild; however, based on the presence or absence of gravid females in samples, as well as the condition of ovarian eggs of dissected specimens sampled, females presumably lay eggs within deep subterranean recesses in May. Sexually mature males develop prominent, saucer-shaped mental glands on the chin and cloacal papillae during breeding season. Some females reach sexual maturity during the summer three years after having been laid as eggs. It is estimated that about 25% of females mate and lay eggs when four and five years old. Females that are six years old and older appear to lay eggs in alternate years. Through the comparison of average numbers of ovarian eggs in gravid females to the average clutch of Florida P. glutinous, the average number of eggs with a clutch of the smallest sexually mature female of the P. jordani complex is estimated to be composed of approximately 10 eggs. Typical of the genus Plethodon, embryos undergo direct development within the egg, hatching as gilled larvae and metamorphosing into miniaturized versions of adults a few days after hatching. Since the smallest specimens of this complex have been collected in May, and because the eggs of most plethodontids require two months or more to hatch, it is thought that the newly hatched young remain below ground for approximately 10 months.
Adult specimens can be found by turning coarse woody debris on the forest floor during the day and by searching the forest floor at night. Surveys focused on researching the relative interaction of P. shermani and P. chattahoochee, including range boundaries of each of these species relative to each other, the extent to which these species are sympatric (overlapping geographic distribution), syntopic (occupying the same microhabitats), or allotopic (occupying different microhabitats), and the extent to which these species hybridize to the south and west of Standing Indian Mountain, NC to Brasstown Bald, GA, are needed to more broadly understand the ecology and distribution of these salamanders, and to document additional occurrences of red-legged salamanders (or their hybrids) in Georgia.
The range of the Jordan’s salamander (P. jordani) complex is subdivided into some 22 geographically isolated populations. Genetic comparison of salamander populations within this complex has identified seven distinct species within different mountain ranges of the southern Appalachians in parts of Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and South Carolina. Two of these species (i.e., P. metcalfi & P. shermani) are known from Georgia.
The purported Georgia occurrence of P. shermani was first documented in 1955. It is uncertain whether the genetic complement of any of the Georgia red-legged salamanders is pure P. shermani, as this species is known to hybridize extensively with P. chattahoochee producing a hybrid swarm along the Georgia-North Carolina border on the southern periphery of the southern-most P. shermani isolate, and these two species form a broad hybrid zone along the Coleman and Talullah river valleys. This parapatric hybridization is evidenced by the physical characters exhibited by Georgia specimens. Specimens identified as P. chattahoochee occasionally have red spots on their legs and Georgia P. shermani have darkly pigmented bellies, a characteristic shared with P. chattahoochee, but not of the light-bellied populations of P. shermani isolates in North Carolina. For Georgia P. shermani, the incidence of darkly pigmented bellies and lateral white spots decreases northward. Moreover, the incidence of red-legged pigmentation decreases with distance southward from the southern-most P. shermani isolate.
Numerous studies have documented detrimental short-term effects of forest management on populations of plethodontid salamanders, including those of the P. jordani complex. Timber harvesting (i.e., clearcutting, selective logging, or thinning) is responsible for the elimination or reduction of canopy shading of the forest floor, reduction of forest floor leaf litter depth and moisture, reduction in the availability of forest floor invertebrate prey, increased soil-surface temperatures, and reduced soil-surface moisture. However, prescribed burning of hardwood forest stands has been found to have no negative impacts on salamanders of the genus Plethodon despite short-term reductions in forest leaf litter depths and moisture.
| Threat 1 | Threat 2 | Threat 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Threat | Climate change & severe weather | Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases | Residential & commercial development |
| Specific Threat | None | None | None |
Because of its restricted range-wide distribution and its peripheral distribution within Georgia, the red-legged salamander is a species of conservation concern in Georgia. Populations of P. shermani found in both Georgia and North Carolina occur largely on federal lands (National Forest), which conveys some level of protection, and the species is thought to be secure.
As is characteristic of woodland salamanders (genus Plethodon), red-legged salamanders remain within a terrestrial environment, not requiring bodies of water for reproduction; instead of water bodies, eggs are laid in moist microhabitats (e.g, subsurface cavities) and larvae exhibit direct development terrestrially. As a result, woodland salamanders can exist in habitats of smaller size than many other amphibian species. However, forest management that conserves areas with closed-canopy forests within the greater landscape mosaic are necessary to maintain healthy populations of these salamanders.
Hairston, N. G. 1950. Intergradation in Appalachian salamanders of the genus Plethodon. Copeia 1950: 262-273.
Hairston, N. G. and C. H. Pope. 1948. Geographic variation and speciation in Appalachian salamanders (Plethodon jordani group). Evolution 2: 266-278.
Highton, R. and R. B. Peabody. 2000. Geographic protein variation and speciation in salamanders of the Plethodon jordani and Plethodon glutinosus complexes in the Southern Appalachian Mountains with the description of four new species. Pp. 31-93, In: Bruce, R. C., R. G. Jaeger, and L. D. Houck, eds. The Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Highton, R. and S. A. Henry. 1970. Evolutionary interactions between species of North American salamanders of the genus Plethodon: Part 1. Genetic and ecological relationships of Plethodon jordani and P. glutinosus in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Evolutionary Biology 4: 211-241.
Martof, B. and R. L. Humphries. 1955. Observations on some amphibians from Georgia. Copeia 1955(3): 245-248.
Thomas M. Floyd
T. Floyd, December 2023: original account