Ambystoma cingulatum (Cope, 1868)
Reticulated Flatwoods Salamander
(A.
cingulatum gallery)
Physical Description
 Ambystoma cingulatum are relatively small salamanders, reaching approximately
8.9-12.9cm from snout to tip of tail. The dorsum is black or dark gray, with
net-like white streaks covering the head, dorsum, limbs, and tail. The ventral
area can be solid black or dark gray, or scattered with white flecks. Ambystoma
cingulatum usually possesses 15 costal grooves, but has been recorded with
between 14 and 16 (Behler 289).
Based on mitochondrial DNA, morphology, and alloyzymes, Pauly,
Piskurek, and Shaffer (2007) concluded that A. cingulatum
comprised two distinct species. Populations found to the east of the
Apalachicola drainage are the now separate species, Ambystoma
bishopi. Those to the west are A. cingulatum.
Pauly, Piskurek, and Shaffer (2007) note that repeated marine
embayment during the Pliocene and Pleistocene interglacials
generated barriers and to gene flow. Because of this occurrence, the
Apalachicola drainage is a common site for east-west phylogeographic
breaks. Distribution & Natural Habitat
Ambystoma cingulatum are found in seasonally wet, pine flatwoods savannas from S. Carolina, southern Georgia, and Northern
Florida westward to southern Alabama. Populations are discontinuous throughout this range.
"The Flatlands Salamander originally
inhabited sandy, seasonally wet, longleaf pine wiregrass (Pinus palustirs).
These habitats have since been destroyed, and replaced with slash pine or mixed
pine-longleaf pine (Pinus elliottii) communities" (Petranka 50).
Ambystoma cingulatum are found in flatwoods with longleaf pine or slash pine and wire grass
(Behler 290).
Breeding
Ambystoma cingulatum migrate to ponds basins and roadside ditches to mate at
the first heavy rains of the season.
Breeding begins in October, and usually ends in November. The first showers of
the season prompt Ambystoma cingulatum to migrate to breeding sites,
which usually consist of dry pond basins and roadside ditches (Petranka 51).
The female will lay up to 160 eggs, singly or in small masses, under soil,
rotting leaves, or other shelters and debris. Larvae will hatch in approximately 3-5 weeks.
The larvae are blackish with less prominent white markings. Larvae will
transform from March to April (Behler 290).
Threats
A. cingulatum populations are declining due to loss of pine flatwood communities, and
particularly degradation of ground cover. The flatwood habitats are
being converted to agricultural land, silviculture, and urban and residential
communities. Also contributing to the decline of A. cingulatum is the drainage
of breeding ponds, the introduction of predatory fishes, habitat alteration
as a result of destructive fires, mortality experienced from
crayfish harvest, and highway mortality during the breeding migration (Nature Serve Explorer).
Recent studies have shown that
A. cingulatum are breeding at only 12% of their historical inhabited
sites. A 1990 study indicated that "51 populations are known from across the historical
range (102 inhabited sites, chiefly breeding ponds), with 36 of these in Florida"
(USFWS 1999).
Habitat loss has been most severe in Alabama, where it may no longer
exist at all, Georgia, and South Carolina (Nature Serve Explorer).
Approximately 1/2 of the total population occurs on public land (USFWS 1997). Sites include
Apalachicola and Osceola national forests, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, and
Eglin Air Force Base in Florida; Fort Stewart in Georgia; and Fracis Marion National
Forest in South Carolina (Nature Serve Explorer).
References
Behler, John L., and F. Wayne King. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians.
New York: Knopf, 1979, 1996.
Center for North American Herpetology. (2003).
http://www.cnah.org/
(Accessed: 2000).
Frost, Darrel & AMNH. Amphibian Species of the World 3.0, an Online
Reference. American Museum of Natural History.
http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.php.
(Accessed: 2004).
Nature Serve Explorer (Database). Nature Serve.
http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/index.htm
(Accessed: 2000-2003).
Obst, Fritz Jugen, Udo Jacob, and K. Richter. Completely Illustrated Atlas of Reptiles and Amphibians for the Terrarium.
Neptune City, NY: T.F.H. Publications, Inc., 1989.
Petranka, James W. Salamanders of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998.
Pauly, Gregory B., Oliver Piskurek, and H. Bradley Shaffer. Phylogeographic
concordance in the southwestern United States: the Flatwoods Salamander,
Ambystoma cingulatum, as a test case. 2007. Molecular Ecology 16:415-429.
|
