Past weekend in arkansas

[rodney]

Went to visit our place in arkansas this past weekend. Went out for a few hours of hiking on Saturday evening, although it was still quite warm, saw quite a few! Thought someone might like the photos
{the usual suspects}

went out at night and saw three of these guys, the other two were too quick to get caught on camera
{E. lucifuga}

some wood frogs

The first ringed salamander that I have seen

 

[jeff]

Wow, that's one lucky outing, The ringed salamander is really cool.

 

[mario]

hey nice pictures i liked the ringed salamander as well

 

[ralf]

Very nice photos, Rodney.

 

[mark]

Rodney - nice photos and some great finds! It's interesting getting to see melanopleura rather than the nominate longicauda I am used to seeing around here. The lucifuga are great as well, it must have ben awesome seeing them out on the crawl. They are easily the most spectacular Eurycea I have seen. As far as the A. annulatum I have no words - they are such beautiful animals.

Congrats on the finds, keep it up!

Mark

 

[john]

Rodney

What was the habitat in which you found the annulatum? Way back when i lived in AR (and went herping), I typically found them in cedar breaks.

 

[william]

great pictures, annulatum have to be my favourite ambystoma!

 

[rodney]

John, I found the annulatum next to a small pond under an old piece of aluminum presumably from an old barn or something. The pond lies off to the side of the top of a hill. The pond must have spring under it, because it always stays about the same level. Below the pond and around it are mostly hardwoods and a pretty steep dry creek bed. There are many amphibians that raise in that pond, a lot more different species in this pond than most of the others.

 

[rodney]

Mark...I agree, lucifuga are the best! but I never get tired of seeing the melanopleura. I also find P. angusticlavius in a variety of colors, but it is just now cooling off enough that I am starting to see them again. They seem to disappear during the heat of the summer.

 

[john]

Rodney

Even at the age of 12 or 13 I found it odd finding the annulatum amongst cedars. Forest was somewhat transitional and I believe the cedars were slowly beginning to take over so that population may have been dwindling. The only pond nearby was a good 200 yards with open field between the forest and water. I believe I was extremely lucky to find even the handful I did. I'd love to go back right now and visit a pond where I found maculatum larvae in hopes of finding annulatum eggs!

 

[mike]

Thanks for posting those! It's great to get out there at night when so many salamanders are on the move on the surface. Do the annulatum breed in the pond you were reffering to?