Road cruising the Shenandoah Valley

[Jefferson]

I don't feel the need to get fancy with the rhetoric here. I went out road cruising tonight when a rain came over the hills from West Virginia, and the results on the mole salamander side of things were epic despite the lack of plethodons on the roads tonight. Here in the rustic Shenandoah Valley, as a light drizzle fell on the leaf litter, I saw about eighteen Wood Frogs, four Spotted Salamanders, and one Jefferson Salamander. Pictures are below. Happy herpin' and here's to an early spring in spite of the Groundhog!
Jefferson

 

[Cloppy]

Nice little spotted salamander you found there!

 

[Jazzy says yarr]

Beautiful finds!

 

[sde]

Nice finds! Really interesting looking Jefferson sal. Lots of past injuries on its tail as well. I always wonder what those are from...raccoons? Shrew moles? Other salamanders? Its interesting stuff. One thing i've noticed about the two Ambystoma here (A. gracile and A. m. macrodactylum) is that the macrodactylum always have significantly more injuries on the tail than the gracile, something i can't explain. Perhaps the lack of poison glands on the tail of macrodactylum make it more susceptible to attack?

 

[Jefferson]

Thanks for the compliments! Yeah, maybe the lack of aposematic warning coloration on the Jefferson Salamander as opposed to the Spotted makes it more vulnerable to predators.

 

[Jefferson]

Seeing as my username is Jefferson and I finally got a good shot of one, this is my new profile picture.