Reticulated flatwoods salamander

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Reticulated flatwoods salamander
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Ambystomatidae
Genus: Ambystoma
Species:
A. bishopi
Binomial name
Ambystoma bishopi
Goin [fr], 1950
Synonyms[2]

The reticulated flatwoods salamander (Ambystoma bishopi) is a

ephemeral wetlands with extensive emergent vegetation, probably maintained by summer fires.[5] Wetlands overgrown with woody shrubs are less likely to support breeding populations.[6]

Etymology

The specific name, bishopi, is in honor of American herpetologist Sherman C. Bishop.[7]

Description

Ambystoma bishopi is a medium-sized species with a snout to vent length of 40 to 50 millimetres (1.6 to 2.0 in) and 14 to 16

Ambystoma cingulatum but the latter has a more frosted dorsal pattern and larger white spots on the ventral surface.[8]

Distribution and habitat

Ambystoma bishopi is a burrowing species of salamander and lives among the leaf litter beneath longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and wiregrass (Aristida stricta) in the flatwoods coastal plain ecosystems of the Southeastern United States.[1]

Biology

Ambystoma bishopi is a terrestrial species. Breeding starts with the arrival of the rains in October. Eggs are laid in small depressions under herbaceous vegetation or leaf litter, at the base of stumps, in the entrances of crayfish holes, or in other hidden places near ponds.[9] After about three weeks they are ready to hatch but do not do so until they are flooded with water. The larvae are nocturnal, hiding during the day in the leaf litter and emerging to feed in the water at night. Metamorphosis usually takes place in the spring and mature individuals move to higher areas away from water where they live until the fall, when they return to flooded areas to breed.[8] Hatchlings need a minimum of eleven weeks but a maximum of up to eighteen weeks, depending on conditions, to fully metamorphose into terrestrial adults. [10]

A. bishopi was described in 1950 and received

IUCN lists Ambystoma bishopi as being endangered. This is because the population trend is downward, as a result of habitat destruction and an increase in undergrowth.[1] Because of the mismanagement of the regulatory fires needed by Longleaf Pine forests, much of the habitat that this species relies on is degraded to the point of habitat destruction, which is the main threat to its populations. [12]

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-2.RLTS.T136128A119000502.en
    . Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  2. ^ a b Frost, Darrel R. (2017). "Ambystoma bishopi Goin, 1950". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  3. S2CID 13339304
    .
  4. ^ Frost CC (1993). "Presettlement fire regimes in southeastern marshes, peatlands, and swamps". pp. 39-60 In: Cerulean SI, Engstrom RT (editors). (1993). Fire in Wetlands: A Management Perspective. Proceedings of the 19th Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, Tallahassee, FL, November 3–6, 1993.
  5. ^ Bishop DC, Haas CA (2005). "Burning trends and potential negative effects of suppressing wetland fires on flatwoods salamanders" (PDF). Natural Areas Journal. 25: 290–294. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-16.
  6. S2CID 25225298. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2011-09-27.
  7. ISBN 978-1-907807-41-1
    . (Ambystoma bishopi, p. 23).
  8. ^ a b McKenzie, Jennifer; Perales, K. Martin; Corbett, Veronica (2012-03-15). "Ambystoma bishopi ". AmphibiaWeb. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  9. ^ Gorman, TA; Powell, SD; Jones, KC; Haas, CA (2014). "Microhabitat characteristics of egg deposition sites used by reticulated flatwoods salamanders". Herpetological Conservation and Biology. 9: 543–550.
  10. PMID 26910245
    .
  11. ^ "Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Proposed Endangered Status for Reticulated Flatwoods Salamander; Proposed Designation of Critical Habitat for Frosted Flatwoods Salamander and Reticulated Flatwoods Salamander; Proposed Rule". Federal Register. 73 (157). United States Fish and Wildlife Service. 2008-08-13.
  12. doi:10.1637/0003-0031-185.1.15 (inactive 31 January 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link
    )

Further reading
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