AmphibiaWeb - Plethodon cheoah
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(Translations may not be accurate.)

Plethodon cheoah Highton & Peabody, 2000
Cheoah Bald Salamander
Subgenus: Plethodon
family: Plethodontidae
subfamily: Plethodontinae
genus: Plethodon
Species Description:

Highton, R., and R. B. Peabody. (2000). Geographic protein variation and speciation in salamanders of the Plethodon jordani and Plethodon glutinosus complexes in the southern Appalachian Mountains with the description of four new species. Bruce, R. C., R. G. Jaeger, and L. D. Houck eds., The Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders: 31–93. New York, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.


© 2013 Todd Pierson (1 of 14)
Conservation Status (definitions)
IUCN Red List Status Account Vulnerable (VU)
NatureServe Use NatureServe Explorer to see status.
CITES No CITES Listing
National Status None
Regional Status None
Access Conservation Needs Assessment Report .

   

 

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
View Bd and Bsal data (2 records).

Description

Plethodon cheoah is a small salamander with a snout-vent length ranging from 40 - 63 mm. The tail is about half its total body length and there are about 14 lateral costal grooves (Highton and Peabody 2000).

This species differs from most other species in the genus by its coloration and spotting. However, it does not differ from Plethodon shermani populations in the Nantahala Mountains in terms of size and coloration, and the only difference is that P. cheoah has less red coloration on the legs (Highton and Peabody 2000).

In life, Plethodon cheoah has a dark gray dorsal side and a light belly. There is most often red coloration on the dorsal side of the legs that is commonly contained to the upper half of the leg. There is sometimes red coloration on the cheeks, as well. Most individuals have yellow lateral spotting and ventral spotting that is concentrated anteriorly. The lateral spotting is sometimes white. The irises of the eyes have brassy flecking and the eyelids usually have red and brassy flecking with occasional white spots, as well (Highton and Peabody 2000).

Females are typically larger than males in this species. The main source of variation in this species is the coloration. There have been individuals observed without the red coloration on the legs or the red coloration covering less than half of the dorsal surface of the legs. Only about half of the observed specimens had red pigment on their cheeks and there were some without yellow or white spotting either laterally or ventrally. White spotting, along with the much more common red spotting and brassy flecking, is present in some on the upper eyelids (Highton and Peabody 2000).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: United States

U.S. state distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: North Carolina

 

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
View Bd and Bsal data (2 records).

Plethodon cheoah can be found on the Cheoah Bald mountain in the Cheoah mountains in Graham and Swain counties, North Carolina, United States of America. Its elevation ranges from 975 - 1,524 meters above sea level (Highton and Peabody 2000).

It lives in mesic forest, mainly secondary growth, under leaf litter, logs, or mossy rocks (IUCN 2022).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors

The species is a terrestrial breeder. Females reproduce every other year and oviposit deep underground in late summer to early fall. The eggs hatch 2 - 3 months later without a larval phase (Petranka 1998).

The young have dorsal red spots not present in the adults and also often have a red “V” on the dorsal surface of the head with the apex pointing anteriorly (Highton and Peabody 2000).

Larva

As of 2023, no nests have been observed for the species or the genus, but is direct developing (Petranka 1998).

Trends and Threats

Plethodon cheoah is not currently under threat, but clear cutting of forests has been shown to strongly deplete populations of other closely related species. This species has demonstrated some tolerance of habitat disturbance as a significant amount of their range in secondary growth forests (IUCN 2022).

While there is not currently any known cases of the salamander chytrid fungus in the United States as of 2023, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans poses a large threat and would be devastating to the species and genus if introduced (IUCN 2022).

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

Habitat modification from deforestation, or logging related activities
Disease

Comments

Plethodon cheoah was split from P. shermani using allozyme data and was later confirmed as a separate species by a Bayesian analysis of nDNA and mtDNA (Highton and Peabody 2000; Fisher-Reid and Weins 2011). The Bayesian analysis showed that P. cheoah is sister to P. chattahoochee (Fisher-Reid and Weins 2011).

The species epithet, “cheoah”, refers to Cheoah Bald, the tallest peak in the Cheoah Mountains, where it’s found (Highton and Peabody 2000).

References

Highton, R., Peabody, R. B. (2000). Geographic protein variation and speciation in salamanders of the Plethodon jordani and Plethodon glutinosus complexes in the southern Appalachian Mountains with the description of four new species. Bruce, R. C., R. G. Jaeger, and L. D. Houck eds., The Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders: 31–93. New York, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. [link]

IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. (2022). Plethodon cheoah. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T59333A118993648. Accessed on 24 May 2023.

Petranka, J. W. (1998). Salamanders of the United States and Canada. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press.[link]



Originally submitted by: Nessa Kmetec (2023-06-09)
Description by: Nessa Kmetec (updated 2023-06-09)
Distribution by: Nessa Kmetec (updated 2023-06-09)
Life history by: Nessa Kmetec (updated 2023-06-09)
Larva by: Nessa Kmetec (updated 2023-06-09)
Trends and threats by: Nessa Kmetec (updated 2023-06-09)
Comments by: Nessa Kmetec (updated 2023-06-09)

Edited by: JG (2023-06-09)

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2023 Plethodon cheoah: Cheoah Bald Salamander <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/5846> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Mar 29, 2024.



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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 29 Mar 2024.

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