Photo © 2005 by Jim Jung and licensors. All rights reserved.

Marbled Salamanders

With the first rains of Autumn the stubby-bodied Marbled Salamanders head for the nearest would-be woodland pool to mate and carry on their kind. They actually court and mate on land and lay their eggs beneath logs and other debris in shallow woodland depressions where they are patiently guarded by the female until rising water from fall rains submerges the eggs and the female departs. The eggs hatch over the winter and the larvae feed and grow until the pools dry up again in late spring or early summer and the transformed larvae begin their adult life on land.

Marbled Salamanders are in the Mole Salamander clan and spend most of their adult lives burrowing in the forest soil (like their namesakes, the Moles) devouring soil insects and worms. They are most often found in and around rotting logs in the drier, upland habitat this species seems to prefer.

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