Home/Species/ Green Salamander

Aneides aeneus

(Cope and Packard, 1881)

Green Salamander

G3Vulnerable (G3G4) Found in 7 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →

G3VulnerableGlobal Rank

Near threatenedIUCN

MediumThreat Impact

Identity

Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.1160371

Element CodeAAAAD01090

Record TypeSPECIES

ClassificationSpecies

Classification StatusStandard

Name CategoryVertebrate Animal

IUCNNear threatened

Endemicendemic to a single nation

KingdomAnimalia

PhylumCraniata

ClassAmphibia

OrderCaudata

FamilyPlethodontidae

GenusAneides

Synonyms

Plethodon aeneus

Other Common Names

green salamander (EN)

Concept Reference

Patton, A., J. J. Apodaca, J. D. Corser, C. R. Wilson, L. A. Williams, A. D. Cameron, and D. B. Wake. 2019. A new green salamander in the southern Appalachians: Evolutionary history of Aneides aeneus and implications for management and conservation with the description of a cryptic microendemic species. Copeia 107(4):748-763.

Taxonomic Comments

Patton et al. (2019) reported on four genetic lineages within the Aneides aeneus complex (Southern Appalachians, Blue Ridge Escarpment, Northern Appalachians, and Hickory Nut Gorge). One of these lineages, the Hickory Nut Gorge, is described as Aneides caryaensis. The other three lineages will presumably be named in future papers.

Conservation Status

Review Date2007-05-25

Change Date2001-10-04

Edition Date2007-05-25

Edition AuthorsHammerson, G., and F. Dirrigl, F., Jr.

Threat ImpactMedium

Range Extent20,000-200,000 square km (about 8000-80,000 square miles)

Number of Occurrences81 - 300

Rank Reasons

Widely but patchily distributed in the Appalachian Mountains region; subpopulations that are isolated or disjunct or at the periphery of the range tend to be threatened or declining; better information on status is needed for many areas; narrow habitat requirements; threatened by habitat loss.

Range Extent Comments

The range encompasses the Appalachian region, extending discontinuously from extreme southwestern Pennsylvania, extreme western Maryland, and southern Ohio to extreme northeastern Mississippi, northern Alabama, northern Georgia, western North Carolina, and western South Carolina (Pauley and Watson 2005), with a widely disjunct occurrence in Crawford County, southern Indiana (Madej, 1994, Herpetol. Rev. 25:31). The North Carolina/South Carolina/northeastern Georgia distribution is disjunct from the main portion of the range. Elevational range is around 140-1350 meters, with the highest known occurrences in Kentucky and North Carolina.

Occurrences Comments

The number of extant occurrences (subpopulations) is unknown but likely exceeds 100. Green and Pauley (1987) mapped about 30 counties of occurrence in West Virginia. Redmond and Scott (1996) mapped about 36 collection sites in Tennessee. Mount (1975) mapped 16-17 collection sites in Alabama. Pfingsten and Downs (1989) mapped 8 sites in southern Ohio (5 post-1950) and reported that the species may have healthy populations.

Threat Impact Comments

Declines may have resulted from habitat loss (land and watershed development) and possibly overcollecting and epidemic disease (Mitchell et al. 1999, Corser 2001); severe drought may exacerbate other threats or cause presumably temporary declines. Snyder (1991) attributed a decline in Blue Ridge populations to mortality associated with prolonged cold periods in winter. Wilson (2003) suggested that the rarity of A. aeneus is linked to the loss of American chestnut and old-growth forests (e.g., spaces under the bark of large snags and logs probably were formerly significant microhabitats for this species, whereas today these microhabitats are relatively scarce; see discussion and references in Pauley and Watson 2005).

Ecology & Habitat

Description

This is a greenish terrestrial salamander with a flattened body, long legs, and widened, square-tipped toes.

Diagnostic Characteristics

This is the only really green salamander in eastern North America (Conant and Collins 1991).

Habitat

Damp (but not wet) crevices in shaded rock outcrops and ledges. Also beneath loose bark and in cracks of standing or fallen trees (e.g., in cove hardwoods); sometimes in or under logs on ground (e.g., Wilson 2003). Sometimes reaches high population densities in logged areas where tree tops are left. Eggs are laid in rock crevices (e.g., Davis 2004), rotting stumps, or similar dark, damp places.

Ecology

Often found in association with the spider HYPOCHILUS THORELLI.

Reproduction

Mating occurs in late spring and early fall. Male-gravid female pairs occur in late spring and late summer-early fall (Canterbury and Pauley 1994). Lays 10-30 eggs in late spring-early summer; in June in West Virginia (Canterbury and Pauley 1994) and North Carolina, by mid-July in southeastern Kentucky (Cupp 1991), in mid- to late July in Mississippi (Woods 1968). Female stays with eggs until they hatch in 10-13 weeks. Young hatch in late summer or early fall (mainly late August, September, or as late as early October) (Davis 2004). No aquatic larval stage. Adult females evidently do not produce eggs every year (Canterbury and Pauley 1994).

Terrestrial Habitats

Forest - HardwoodWoodland - HardwoodBare rock/talus/screeCliff

Other Nations (1)

United StatesN3

Province	Rank	Native
Indiana	S1	Yes
North Carolina	S2	Yes
Kentucky	S3	Yes
Mississippi	S1	Yes
Ohio	S1	Yes
Pennsylvania	S2	Yes
Tennessee	S3	Yes
Alabama	S3	Yes
Maryland	S1	Yes
Virginia	S3	Yes
South Carolina	S1	Yes
West Virginia	S3	Yes
Georgia	S2	Yes

Threat Assessments

Threat	Scope	Severity	Timing
5 - Biological resource use	—	—	High (continuing)
5.1 - Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	—	—	High (continuing)
5.3 - Logging & wood harvesting	—	—	High (continuing)
8 - Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases	—	—	High (continuing)
8.1 - Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases	—	—	High (continuing)
11 - Climate change & severe weather	—	—	High (continuing)
11.2 - Droughts	—	—	High (continuing)

Roadless Areas (7)

Kentucky (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Wolfpen	Daniel Boone National Forest	2,835

Virginia (5)

Area	Forest	Acres
Bear Creek	Jefferson National Forest	18,274
Beartown Addition B	Jefferson National Forest	2,985
Garden Mountain	Jefferson National Forest	3,960
Hunting Camp Little Wolf Creek	Jefferson National Forest	8,953
North Fork Pound	Jefferson National Forest	4,757

West Virginia (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Canaan Loop	Monongahela National Forest	7,867

References (24)

Barbour, R. W. 1971. Amphibians and reptiles of Kentucky. Univ. Press of Kentucky, Lexington. x + 334 pp.
Blackburn, L., P. Nanjappa, and M. J. Lannoo. 2001. An Atlas of the Distribution of U.S. Amphibians. Copyright, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, USA.
Canterbury, R. A., and T. K. Pauley. 1994. Time of mating and egg deposition of West Virginia populations of the salamander Aneides aeneus. J. Herpetol. 28:431-434.
Conant, R. and J. T. Collins. 1991. A field guide to reptiles and amphibians: eastern and central North America. Third edition. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Massachusetts. 450 pp.
Corser, J. D. 2001. Decline of disjunct green salamander (Aneides aeneus) populations in the southern Appalachians. Biological Conservation 97:119-126.
Crother, B. I. (editor). 2017. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. 8th edition. SSAR Herpetological Circular 43:1-104. [Updates in SSAR North American Species Names Database at: https://ssarherps.org/cndb]
Cupp, P. V., Jr. 1991. Aspects of the life history and ecology of the green salamander, Aneides aeneus, in Kentucky. J. Tennessee Acad. Sci. 66:171-174.
Davis, A. 2004. Aneides aeneus and Plethodon glutinosus. Nesting observations. Herpetological Review 35:51-52.
Frost, D. R. 1985. Amphibian species of the world. A taxonomic and geographical reference. Allen Press, Inc., and The Association of Systematics Collections, Lawrence, Kansas. v + 732 pp.
Frost, D.R. 2020. Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. Online: http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.html
Gordon, R.E. 1967. Aneides aeneus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. 30:1-2.
Green, N. B., and T. K. Pauley. 1987. Amphibians and reptiles in West Virginia. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. xi + 241 pp.
Hulse, A. C., C. J. McCoy, and E. Censky. 2001. Amphibians and reptiles of Pennsylvania and the Northeast. Comstock Publishing Associates, Cornell University Press, Ithaca. 419 pp.
Minton, S. A., Jr. 1972. Amphibians and reptiles of Indiana. Indiana Academy Science Monographs 3. v + 346 pp.
Mitchell, J. C., T. K. Pauley, D. I. Withers, S. M. Roble, B. T. Miller, A. L. Braswell, P. V. Cupp, Jr,. and C. S. Hobson. 1999. Conservation status of the southern Appalachian herpetofauna. Virginia Journal of Science 50:13-35.
Mount, R. H. 1975. The reptiles and amphibians of Alabama. Auburn University Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn, Alabama. vii + 347 pp.
Patton, A., J. J. Apodaca, J. D. Corser, C. R. Wilson, L. A. Williams, A. D. Cameron, and D. B. Wake. 2019. A new green salamander in the southern Appalachians: Evolutionary history of Aneides aeneus and implications for management and conservation with the description of a cryptic microendemic species. Copeia 107(4):748-763.
Pauley, T. K., and M. B. Watson. 2005. Aneides aeneus (Cope and Packard, 1881). Green salamander. Pages 656-658 in M. Lannoo, editor. Amphibian declines: the conservation status of United States species. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Petranka, J. W. 1998. Salamanders of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Pfingsten, R. A., and F. L. Downs, eds. 1989. Salamanders of Ohio. Bull. Ohio Biological Survey 7(2):xx + 315 pp.
Redmond, W. H., and A. F. Scott. 1996. Atlas of amphibians in Tennessee. The Center for Field Biology, Austin Peay State University, Miscellaneous Publication Number 12. v + 94 pp.
Snyder, D. H. 1991. The green salamander (Aneides aeneus) in Tennessee and Kentucky, with comments on the Carolinas' Blue Ridge populations. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 66:165-169.
Wilson, C. R. 2003a. Woody and arboreal habitats of the green salamander (Aneides aeneus) in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Contemporary Herpetology 2003(2).
Woods, J. E. 1968. The ecology and natural history of Mississippi populations of Aneides aeneus and associated salamanders. Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. Southern Mississippi.