WILDLIFE DIVERSITY NOTEBOOK: Cheat Mountain Salamander
Common Name: Cheat Mountain Salamander
Scientific Name: Plethodon nettingi
Status: The Cheat Mountain salamander has been listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened throughout its range since 1989.
Description: The Cheat Mountain salamander belongs to a group known as the woodland salamanders (Plethodontids). There are generally two sizes of woodland salamanders, large and small. Large species include the slimy salamander and Wehrle's salamander.
The Cheat Mountain salamander is one of the small woodland species attaining a length of 4 inches from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail. It is black or dark brown with brassy or silvery flecks above and uniformly dark gray beneath. The tail of this species is about the same length as its body, and the body has 17 to 19 costal grooves (vertical grooves along its sides).
Habitat: Originally, the Cheat Mountain salamander was probably restricted to the red spruce forests of West Virginia's higher mountains. Since most of these forests were cut by 1920, several populations today occur in mixed deciduous forests that have replaced red spruce stands; these forests include yellow birch, American beech, sugar maple, striped maple and Eastern hemlock trees. Typically, this species is found in cool, moist red spruce forests with a ground cover comprised of a liverwort called Bazzania and an abundance of leaf litter, fallen logs and sticks
Life History: Cheat Mountain salamanders spend the winter underground where temperatures remain above freezing. When the weather warms up, usually around May, these salamanders emerge from underground. The female typically lays 8 to 10 eggs which are attached to the inside of a rotten log or the underside of a rock or log. The female guards the eggs until they hatch, a behavior unique to salamanders of the family Plethodontidae
Diet : Like all woodland salamanders, the Cheat Mountain salamander preys on small insects and other invertebrates including mites, springtails, beetles, flies and ants. On moist evenings it searches the forest floor, rocks and logs for food. It will occasionally climb trees, shrubs and stumps in pursuit of food.
Compiled by the DNR Wildlife Diversity Staff
