Female E. wilderae

[chuck]

The two females on the left are from 50 miles apart, the "fathead" is from Ashville area. The Ugly male on the right is from the same local as the skinny head fem.

 

[joseph]

Beautiful...even the ugly male

. I'm assuming you are keeping these 2 locales seperate?

 

[nate]

Hi Chuck, the "fathead" is a male. That's due to swollen temporal muscles, a secondary sexual characteristic for many male Eurycea.

(Message edited by nate on November 08, 2005)

 

[chuck]

It has no ciri, is twice as big and a completely different color. Are you sur it's a male?

 

[chuck]

These are the first I've seen and caught, I've never seen a big one. I assumed the larger is fem. from stuff I've read. The smaller one on the left has the same color and is full of white agg sacks in her belly.
Chuck

 

[chuck]

oops, agg is egg!

 

[nate]

Hi Chuck, yeah I'm sure. Some populations of the bislineata/cirrigera/wilderae lack cirri completely. In others, females also have the cirri...but to my knowledge, only males have ever been documented to have the enlarged temporal muscles.

 

[chuck]

I found the three (pretty males and fathead) in birch leaf litter about 20-30 feet from one another far away from any water source. Over 5ooo ft in elev.

You think this male is old considering its' color is faded and twice the size of the others?

 

[nate]

Yeah, it's likely one of the older individuals in the population, but that's not to say it's geriatric or anything

.

The males won't always be that orange-red color either. Every time I've been in wilderae territory, I'd say the majority of males I've seen were gold. I have yet to see an orange-red female though.