The bands of females tend to be gray while those of males are more white.
Marbled salamander adaptations.
Ambystoma opacum the marbled salamander is found throughout most of the eastern united states from massachusetts west to central illinois southeastern missouri and oklahoma and eastern texas south to the gulf of mexico and the carolina coast it is absent from peninsular florida.
Eggs are laid in the fall under coarse woody debris while the pools are dry.
Like most of the mole salamanders it is secretive spending most of its life under logs or in burrows.
They can be identified by their black dark brown body including its venter with light white silvery crossbands on the dorsum.
As with many ambystomatids the marbled salamander is a relatively stocky species.
The marbled salamander is one of the smaller ambystomatid mole salamander species found in north carolina with adults only reaching lengths between 3 4 inches.
Marbled salamander distribution in massachusetts based on the natural heritage database records from 1980 2006.
Adults can grow to about 11 cm 4 in small compared to other members of its genus.
It can be found in a variety of habitats from moist sandy areas to dry hillsides.
Almost all carnivorous and omnivorous species of animal kingdom are predators of marbled salamanders.
The marbled salamander lives in forests and woodlands.
It spends most of its time in a burrow in leaf litter or under bark and logs.
This species is sexually dimorphic males tend to have white crossbands and females tend to have gray silvery crossbands.
Even other relatively bigger amphibians also prey on marbled salamanders.
Female guards the eggs until pool is flooded.
When something snags its tail the salamander will drop its tail and run away.
Breeding site fidelity and dispersal there is some evidence of breeding site fidelity among adults williams 1973 scott 1994.
Having an overall dark gray or black body the marbled salamander gets its name from the 4 7 white.
Disjunct populations are found in eastern missouri central illinois in northwest ohio.
Marbled salamanders grow to about 3 5 4 25 in 9 10 7 cm in size and are stout bodied and chubby in appearance.
They live for about 8 years to 10 years on average.
Habitat photo for marbled salamander courtesy of rebecca chalmers.
Diet adult marbled salamanders eat invertebrates including earthworms slugs snails centipedes and a variety of insects.
The most interesting adaptation of the salamander is a structural one.
Marbled salamanders have a long life comparatively.
