Odd little guy.

[deliriah]

I have six A. maculatum that I hatched from eggs this year. At least I thought they were all maculatum. They morphed about two months ago and four have the distinct yellow spots, one has no spots as of yet, not sure it will develop any by this point. And one seems to only have them on it's tail. The strangest thing is it has heavy light blue/white speckled spotting from snout to vent, down the sides, like that of A. laterale. I'm not completey sure it is finished developing it's patterns yet. I know they are known to hybridize, but I have yet to even see A. laterale in my area. I'm not even completely sure I live within their range. Has anyone ever seen a pattern like that? It looks as if it's head and body are laterale and the tail is maculatum. I know I'll have to get pictures, but right now all I have is my cell phone and the blue speckling isn't showing up when I try to take pictures with it.

 

[Kaysie]

Occasionally, maculatum will lack spots. I've also seen them (infrequently) with heavily speckled sides. A friend of mine texted me a pic of one the other day that was heavily speckled.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

It usually takes 5-6 months for an A. maculatum morph to get its more permanent pattern. The speckling on the sides can be quite common in all areas throughout their range. I've seen it on specimens in South Carolina where A. laterale doesn't occur, so I doubt it is due to inter-breeding. Here in Virginia we can have 1 county where the majority of them have the speckling while the very next county will have very few with it. Do enjoy the heavy speckled pattern now because I have found that it will usually fade and loose its luster as the salamander gets older.

As for the range of A. laterale, this was taken from MADFG website: "Reported from Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, and eastern Worcester counties. Records of specimens west of Worcester County may represent Ambystoma jeffersonianum and other members of this species complex. Listed as Special Concern." Not sure where, if at all, you fit into their range?

 

[deliriah]

Thank you both! It was bugging me because I have never seen the speckling before, or perhaps never noticed before. Justin, I live in Berkshire County so I don't think I'm even in their range at all from the information there. But thank you all the same. And yes I will enjoy the speckled pattern and keep trying to get pictures of it while I still can.