Desmognathus carolinensis

This species formerly was included in Desmognathus ochrophaeus. Based on patterns of allozyme variation, Tilley and Mahoney (1996) split D. ochrophaeus into four species: D. ochrophaeus, D. carolinensis, D. ocoee, and D. orestes. Populations on opposite sides of a stream may exhibit relatively high levels of genetic differentiation (White et al. 2000). Highton (2000) stated that further study is needed to determine whether D. carolinensis includes more than one species, which he concluded is likely.

Beamer and Lamb (2008) examined mtDNA variation among Desmognathus populations in the Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains (and some nearby localities outside the Coastal Plain). Based on these genetic results, in conjunction with morphological observations, they concluded that the taxonomic and geographic scopes of several Desmognathus species should be modified from their traditional concepts. Among other conclusions, the authors determined that some Atlantic Coastal Plain populations previously regarded as D. auriculatus fall into clades containing D. fuscus or D. fuscus and D. carolinensis. Hence, further taxonomic study is warranted.

Tilley et al. (2013) reported on a molecularly distinctive form in the southern Bald Mountains and northern foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains that is phenotypically indistinguishable from this species. This form appears to hybridize with both D. carolinensis and D. santeetlah in the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province, and with an innominate lowland form further west in the Ridge and Valley Physiographic Province (Crother 2017). Beamer and Lamb (2020), in their discussion of Desmognathus mtDNA phylogenetics, discussed the intercalation of mtDNA haplotypes with various populations of Desmognathus fuscus (Frost 2020).

This species has a small range in western North Carolina and adjacent eastern Tennessee. It is common, the population appears stable, and most occurrences are on conservation lands.

This species occurs in the southwestern Blue Ridge Physiographic Province in western North Carolina and adjacent eastern Tennessee, United States. It is found from somewhere between Linville Falls and McKinney Gap (Burke and McDowell counties, North Carolina) on the Blue Ridge Divide and Iron Mountain Gap on the North Carolina-Tennessee boundary (Mitchell-Unicoi counties, North Carolina-Tennessee) to the valley of the Pigeon River (Haywood and Buncombe counties), North Carolina; this area includes the Blue Ridge, Black, Bald, and Unaka mountains (Tilley and Mahoney 1996). Using Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (2025) records from 2000-2025, range extent is estimated to be 10,072 km² (RARECAT 2025).

Number of occurrences has not been determined but probably falls within the indicated range.

Clearcutting of dry sites strongly depletes local populations (Petranka et al. 1993), but the species is in minimal need of protection (Petranka 1998).