Plethodon nettingi

Plethodon hubrichti and P. shenandoah formerly were included in this species but were elevated to species status based on moderate levels of genetic divergence (Highton and Larson 1979). P. nettingi formerly was considered a subspecies of the closely related P. richmondi, from which it differs morphologically and electrophoretically.

The species occupies a small range in extreme eastern West Virginia. The original range and population have been fragmented by many decades of habitat destruction and degradation associated with logging, mining, and other human activities. The current, reduced population appears to be stable where habitat remains relatively undisturbed.

This salamander is endemic to the Allegheny Mountains from Cheat Mountain north to Backbone and Cabin mountains, in Grant, Tucker, Randolph, Pocahontas, and Pendleton counties, east-central West Virginia, at elevations of 730–1463 m; much of the species' remaining habitat is within the Monongahela National Forest (Green and Pauley 1987, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1992, Pauley 1993). The entire range encompasses 2,400 square kilometers (935 square miles), within which the species occurs in many disjunct populations along high elevation (> 610 m in the north, > 1,067 m in the south) ridges (West Virginia Division of Natural Resources web site 1998, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2017).

As of 2017, and since 1976, this species had been found at 83 sites, but these appear to be very small fragments of once larger populations. Sixty-seven of the sites covered at least 1 acre. Populations have been extirpated or declined at several of the sites (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2017).

Populations have been fragmented by habitat modifications such as timbering, burning, mining, recreational development, and road construction. Scientists have speculated that habitat alterations may favor the encroachment of mountain dusky and redback salamanders, which may subsequently out-compete the Cheat Mountain salamander for food and microhabitat. With continued discretion in the management of high-elevation spruce and associated hardwood forests, the future of the Cheat Mountain salamander looks sound. However, long-term habitat changes resulting from acid precipitation and climate change may alter this outlook (West Virginia Division of Natural Resources web site 1998, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2017).