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Plethodon teyahalee Highton, 1983
Southern Appalachian Salamander
Federal Protection: No US federal protection
State Protection: No Georgia state protection
Global Rank: G4
State Rank: S2
Element Locations Tracked in Biotics: Yes
SWAP High Priority Species (SGCN): No
Element Occurrences (EOs) in Georgia: 4
Habitat Summary for element in Georgia: Logs and rock crevices in mesic forests
The Southern Appalachian salamander (or Southern Appalachian slimy salamander) is a large woodland salamander (genus Plethodon), with adults reaching total lengths of 12-21 cm (4.7-8.25 in). Specimens of the Plethodon glutinous and Plethodon jordani complexes inhabiting forests of the Southern Appalachians of extreme eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, and extreme northeastern South Carolina and Georgia exhibit considerable intraspecific variation of physical characters, especially within zones of hybridization, which may complicate the identification of certain individual salamanders. However, within extreme northeastern Rabun County, GA, P. teyahalee does not hybridize with the sympatric (overlapping geographic distributions) southern gray-cheeked salamander (P. metcalfi), but hybridization with the Chattahoochee slimy salamander (P. chattahoochee) in the same geographic area is thought to occur. Without hybridization, P. teyahalee have grayish black backs and sides peppered with small white spots and uniformly gray bellies; the throat and chin are lighter in color than the belly. Where not hybridizing with P. chattahoochee, lateral spotting in the Southern Appalachian slimy salamander is no more dense than the concentration of scattered small white dorsal spots characteristic of the species. Hybridization with P. chattahoochee is expected to produce pronounced irregular or rounded white spotting along the sides of the body and head. Individuals usually have 16 costal grooves. Juveniles resemble adults by sharing the typical spotting pattern and coloration.
Within Georgia, the Southern Appalachian slimy salamander is sympatric with one species of the Plethodon jordani complex, the southern gray-cheeked salamander (P. metcalfi) and is at least parapatric (geographic distributions contiguous but not overlapping) with one species of the Plethodon glutinous complex, P. chattahoochee. Plethodon teyahalee can be distinguished from P. metcalfi (reaching total lengths of 17.2 cm [6.8 in]) as well as other members of the P. glutinous complex by the presence of very small white dorsal spots. In extreme northeastern Rabun County, Georgia populations of P. metcalfi and P. teyahalee are sympatric, and there is no evidence of hybridization; thus P. metcalfi exhibits uniformly black sides and backs, pale gray chins and bellies, and lacks lateral or dorsal white markings. Plethodon chattahoochee is a medium sized woodland salamander reaching total lengths of 13.2 cm (5.2 in). It also lacks dark pigmentation on the throat, and white or brassy spotting on its black back are either lacking or very reduced, however, its flanks are abundantly covered with white or yellowish spotting, contrasting it with the Southern Appalachian slimy salamander.
Southern Appalachian slimy salamanders are typically found in deciduous forests up to 5,000 ft (1,550 m) in elevation; P. teyahalee reach their highest densities in mature, mesic, hardwood forests.
Food items utilized by North Carolina and Tennessee populations include invertebrates foraged from the forest floor consisting of ants, beetles, camel crickets, caterpillars, earthworms, isopods, millipedes, centipedes, spiders, mites, snails, slugs, and a variety of other insects, but millipeds and insects are apparently the primary dietary items across the range of this salamander species.
The tails of large eastern Plethodon species, including those of the P. glutinous complex, produce slimy secretions that are noxious and function as a deterrent to predators. Nonetheless, the Southern Appalachian slimy salamander is occasionally preyed upon by a variety of predators, including larger salamanders (spring & black-bellied), small snakes, shrews, and woodland birds.
Research on Southern Appalachian slimy salamander populations in Tennessee found salamander densities of this species to be 0.02 individuals/ft2 (0.23 individuals/m2), which was about 25% the density of P. jordani. Average home ranges within the forest floor were estimated to be 154.9 ft2 (14.3m2) for males, 70.2 ft2 (6.5m2) for females, and 80.1 ft2 (7.5m2) for juveniles. Absence of observations of individuals three years and younger occupying retreat holes indicates that such burrows are territorially defended by adults. Plethodon teyahalee appears to be allotopic (occupying different microhabitats) with salamanders of the P. jordani complex and breeding isolation (where there is no evidence of hybridization) between the P. teyahalee and salamanders of the P. jordani complex (such as P. metcalfi in Georgia) is apparently ethological (behaviorally based).
Reproduction (including courtship) of this species is poorly documented. Females nest underground in spring or early summer and hatching occurs 2-3 months after eggs are laid. 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.
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. The Southern Appalachian slimy salamander is known or likely thought to be parapatric with or without hybridization with all other adjacently distributed slimy salamander species (P. glutinous complex); Southern Appalachian slimy salamanders are known to hybridize with P. chattahoochee within a narrow contact zone in Clay County, NC and likely also hybridize in northeastern Georgia. Surveys focused on researching the relative interaction of P. teyahalee with P. chattahoochee in Georgia, including range boundaries of each of these species relative to each other, the extent to which these species are parapatric, sympatric, syntopic (occupying the same microhabitats), or allotopic, and the extent to which these species may hybridize in Georgia, are needed to more broadly understand the ecology and distribution of these salamanders, and to document additional occurrences of Southern Appalachian slimy salamanders in Georgia.
Southern Appalachian slimy salamander occurs within the Blue Ridge of North Carolina (west of the French Broad River) and within immediately adjacent Tennessee; the salamander is also found within the Blue Ridge, Appalachian Foothills, and Upper Piedmont of northwestern South Carolina, as well as extreme northeastern Rabun County, Georgia.
Numerous studies have documented detrimental short-term effects of forest management on populations of plethodontid salamanders, including those of the P. glutinous 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.
Because of its restricted range-wide distribution and its peripheral distribution within Georgia, the Southern Appalachian slimy salamander is a species of conservation concern in Georgia. Populations of P. teyahalee found in Georgia occur largely on federal lands (Chattahoochee National Forest), which conveys some level of protection, and the species is thought to be secure.
As is characteristic of woodland salamanders (genus Plethodon), Southern Appalachian slimy 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.
Ash, A. N. 1997. Disappearance and return of plethodontid salamanders to clearcut plots in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains. Conservation Biology 11: 983-989.
Hairston, N. G. 1950. Intergradation in Appalachian salamanders of the genus Plethodon. Copeia 1950(4): 262-273.
Highton, R. 1984. A new species of woodland salamander of the Plethodon glutinosus group from the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Brimleyana 9: 1-20.
Highton, R., G. C. Maha, and L. R. Maxson. 1989. Part 1. Geographic protein variation. Pp. 1-78, In: R. Highton. Biochemical evolution in the slimy salamanders of the Plethodon glutinosus complex in the eastern United States. Illinois Biological Monographs 57. 152pp.
Highton, R. 1995. Speciation in eastern North American salamanders of the genus Plethodon. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 26: 579-600.
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. 485pp.
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.
Thomas M. Floyd
T. Floyd, December 2023: original account