Three-lined salamander
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Plethodontidae
Genus: Eurycea
Species:
E. guttolineata
Binomial name
Eurycea guttolineata
(Holbrook, 1838)
Synonyms[2]
  • Salamandra gutto-lineata Holbrook, 1838

The three-lined salamander (Eurycea guttolineata) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the south-eastern United States.[1][2] Like other Plethodontidae species, E. guttolineata captures prey via tongue projection.[3]

Description

Eurycea guttolineata is a mid-sized, slender stream salamander which ranges from about 10-15.9 cm in its adult form. It is tan to light yellow with three black longitudinal stripes running from the eyes down the length of the body to the tail. The tail is very long at approximately two-thirds its total body length. Additionally, the ventrum (belly) of the three-lined salamander is boldly marked with black and white marbling.[4]

Reproduction

Hatchlings are generally around 10-13 mm and undergo metamorphosis when they are 22-27 mm snout-to-vent length. This is typically a 4-6 month larval stage. The effects that elevation has on larval stages have been studied extensively showing that at lower elevations larvae metamorphosized sooner than those at higher elevations which had delayed metamorphosis mostly due to overwintering.[5] Due to this species being a semi-aquatic salamander in the Plethodontidae family, the females will enter cooler waters in late autumn and winter to drop eggs.[6]

Distribution

The species is distributed throughout much of the southeastern United States.[7] It can be found in the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia and Tennessee south through the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the Gulf Coast, including eastern Louisiana and western Florida.[1]

Habitat

Its natural habitats are forested floodplains, ditches, streamsides, and seepages. With wet weather, the species may enter wooded terrestrial habitats.[1] It is not uncommon in suitable habitat.[1] Some subpopulations have likely been extirpated by loss of bottomland hardwood forests.[1]

Feeding Behavior

Three-lined Salamanders feed on a variety of invertebrates including snails, snail eggs, arachnids, millipedes, annelids, nematodes, and many insects. [8] Larvae are thought to feed on small invertebrates, but there have not been any detailed studies on their stomach content or foraging behavior. [9] A study researching the effects of temperature showed that elastically powered tongue-projection performance is maintained to a higher degree than muscle-powered tongue retraction performance across a wide temperature range.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2014). "Eurycea guttolineata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T59265A64163403. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T59265A64163403.en. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 Frost, Darrel R. (2017). "Eurycea guttolineata (Holbrook, 1838)". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  3. ↑ Christopher V. Anderson, Nicholas P. Larghi, Stephen M. Deban; Thermal effects on the performance, motor control and muscle dynamics of ballistic feeding in the salamander Eurycea guttolineata. J Exp Biol 1 September 2014; 217 (17): 3146–3158. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.105437
  4. ↑ Bruce, Richard C. (1970-12-12). "The Larval Life of the Three-Lined Salamander, Eurycea longicauda guttolineata". Copeia. 1970 (4): 776–779. doi:10.2307/1442330. ISSN 0045-8511. JSTOR 1442330.
  5. ↑ Bruce, Richard C. "The Larval Life of the Three-Lined Salamander, Eurycea Longicauda Guttolineata." Copeia, vol. 1970, no. 4, 1970, pp. 776–79, https://doi.org/10.2307/1442330. Accessed 29 Apr. 2022.
  6. ↑ Marvin, Glenn A (April 2003). "Effects of acute temperature and thermal acclimation on aquatic and terrestrial locomotor performance of the three-lined salamander, Eurycea guttolineata". Journal of Thermal Biology. 28 (3): 251–259. doi:10.1016/s0306-4565(02)00084-0. ISSN 0306-4565.
  7. ↑ "Eurycea guttolineata". AmphibiaWeb. University of California, Berkeley. 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  8. ↑ Petranka, J.W., 1998, Salamanders of the United States and Canada, 587 pp. pgs., Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC
  9. ↑ Virginia Herpetological Society, https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/salamanders/three-lined-salamander/three-lined_salamander.php.
  10. ↑ Anderson, Christopher V.; Larghi, Nicholas P.; Deban, Stephen M. (September 1, 2014). "Thermal effects on the performance, motor control and muscle dynamics of ballistic feeding in the salamander Eurycea guttolineata". The Journal of Experimental Biology. The Company of Biologists. 217 (17): 3146–3158. doi:10.1242/jeb.105437. PMID 24948633. S2CID 9580680. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved 16 May 2023.


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