15 Types of Salamanders in West Virginia! (ID Guide)
Did you find a salamander in West Virginia?
First, congratulations! Although these amphibians are widespread, they can be challenging to locate. The best places to look are in wet habitats under rocks and in creekbeds. Honestly, looking for salamanders is a really fun experience!
Below you will find a list of the most common and interesting salamanders that live in West Virginia. You will find detailed pictures, along with range maps for each species to help with your identification!
15 Types of Salamanders in West Virginia:
#1. Eastern Newt
- Notophthalmus viridescens
Identifying Characteristics:
- Larvae are aquatic and have smooth, olive green skin, narrow, fin-like tails, and feathery gills.
- Juveniles are terrestrial and have rough, orangish-red skin with darker spots outlined in black.
- Adults have slimy, dull olive-green skin, dull yellow undersides, darker black-rimmed spots, and a blade-like tail.
Eastern Newts have the most complicated life cycle of any salamander in West Virginia!
When they’re first hatched, they spend all of their time in the water. This larval stage lasts for two to five months. After that, they metamorphose into juvenile Eastern Newts.
They live in terrestrial forest habitats for two to seven years during their juvenile stage. Even though they generally remain hidden under moist leaf litter and debris, you may see them moving about on rainy days and nights, foraging insects, worms, and spiders. This is the stage of life you’re most likely to see an Eastern Newt. If you spot one, be careful – they have glands that secrete a potent neurotoxin when they’re threatened.
Finally, Eastern Newts will migrate back to a water source and metamorphose into aquatic adults, where they eat small amphibians, fish, and worms. They can live up to 15 years and spend the rest of their lives in this aquatic form.
Interestingly, Eastern Newts are known for their homing ability, which allows them to travel to and from their breeding ground. Though scientists are unsure of the exact mechanism, the Eastern Newt likely uses magnetic orientation to find its way!
#2. Spotted Salamander
- Ambystoma maculatum
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults are 5.9 to 9.8 inches long with wide snouts. They are typically black but may also be bluish-black, dark grey, dark green, or dark brown. Their underside is slate gray or pale pink.
- They have two uneven rows of spots down their back, from just behind their eyes to the tip of their tail. Spots on the head are orange and fade to yellow further down the body and tail.
- Larvae are light brown or greenish-yellow with small darker spots, external gills, and fin-like tails.
The Spotted Salamander is found primarily in hardwood forests with vernal pools, which are temporary ponds created by spring rain. Like many salamanders in West Virginia, they require vernal pools for breeding because the fish in permanent lakes and ponds would eat all their eggs and larvae.
These salamanders are fossorial, meaning they spend most of their time underground. Spotted Salamanders are typically only seen above ground just after heavy rain, so you’ll need to get a little muddy to find one! They go dormant underground during the winter months and don’t come out until the breeding season between March and May.
The Spotted Salamander’s eggs are truly incredible. The embryos can host algae inside their eggs, and they are the only vertebrate known to do so. The embryos and algae have a symbiotic relationship. The algae have a suitable habitat, and in return, they produce the oxygen necessary for the embryos to grow and thrive.
#3. Common Mudpuppy
- Necturus maculosus
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults range from 8 to 19 inches in length.
- This species is rusty brown to gray or black with scattered bluish-black or black spots, which sometimes merge to form stripes. The underside is whitish and may also have bluish-black spots.
- The large, bushy, red, or maroon external gills behind the flattened head make this species easy to identify.
Common Mudpuppies are among the most well-known salamanders in West Virginia.
These LARGE salamanders can be found in nearly any body of water, including lakes, reservoirs, ditches, and rivers. They are secretive and require habitats with lots of cover, such as boulder piles, submerged logs, tree roots, or vegetation.
Common Mudpuppies are nocturnal and spend their days hiding under rocks. They’re active at night and hunt by walking along the lake or river bottom, but they can also swim. These opportunistic feeders eat whatever aquatic organisms they can catch, including insect larvae, small fish, fish eggs, aquatic worms, snails, and even carrion.
In the spring, when water temperatures don’t fluctuate as much, Common Mudpuppies spend time in shallow water. However, they have been reported in water as deep as 100 feet during the summer and winter!
#4. Red-backed Salamander
- Plethodon cinereus
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults range from 2 to 5 inches in length.
- Adults can occur in two color phases: the “lead-back” is consistent gray or black, and the “red-back” has an orange to red stripe down the back and tail.
- All adults have mottled white and black undersides and five toes on their hind feet.
Unlike other salamanders in West Virginia, Red-Backed Salamanders don’t have lungs OR gills! Instead, they “breathe” with their thin skin, absorbing oxygen through moisture. This unique trait means they must stay moist to survive.
Red-backed Salamanders are typically found beneath leaf litter, logs, bark, rocks, or burrows in deciduous forests. They have a low tolerance for dry weather, and typically you’ll only see them during or after rainfall. In the winter, they hibernate underground.
These salamanders feed on invertebrates, including spiders, snails, worms, and other small insects. Researchers studying the diets of Red-Backed Salamanders found that individuals with red coloring had a higher-quality, more varied diet than those with gray coloring.
The different phases are also believed to have different methods of predator evasion. For example, the “lead-back” phase salamanders tend to run from predators, while the “red-back” phase will freeze. Both phases of the Red-backed Salamander may also drop all or part of their tail to escape a predator. Eventually, the tail will grow back, but duller in color.
#5. Four-Toed Salamander
- Hemidactylium scutatum
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults grow up to 3.9 inches in length.
- Orangish-brown to reddish-brown coloring with a brighter tail, grayish flanks, and white underside with small black spots.
- They have an elongated body and limbs, short snout, prominent eyes, and four toes on their hind feet.
Adult Four-Toed Salamanders are typically found in hardwood forests near bogs, floodplains, or swamps. They’re almost always found near sphagnum moss, and you’ll want to look under the leaf litter, logs, rocks, or other debris to find them.
As adults, these salamanders primarily feed on small invertebrates such as spiders, worms, and insects. Predators like larger salamanders, snakes, and birds of prey will hunt Four-Toed Salamanders while they forage. If threatened, they may play dead or drop their tails, giving them a chance to escape predators.
Four-toed Salamanders use old underwater burrows or cavities for overwintering. They choose spots deep enough to avoid freezing and often overwinter communally. They’ve even been found in groups with other species, such as the Red-backed Salamander.
Four-toed Salamanders are relatively uncommon throughout their range due to their specialized habitat, so if you see one in the wild, consider yourself lucky!
#6. Marbled Salamander
- Ambystoma opacum
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults range from 3.5 to 4.25 inches in length.
- Their coloring is dark brown or black. Males have white crossbands while females have silver or gray.
- Stout-bodied and chubby, females tend to be larger than males.
Marbled Salamanders occupy various damp habitats, from low-lying floodplains to moist, wooded hillsides. However, they spend most of their time underground or beneath rocks, logs, leaf litter, or other debris, so it’s unusual to find one unless you’ve disturbed its hiding place!
Marbled Salamanders in West Virginia are considered a keystone species, which is an animal whose disappearance would completely change its ecosystem.
For example, let’s look at the relationship between Marbled and Spotted Salamanders:
Marbled Salamanders eat Spotted Salamander larvae, which eat zooplankton. If Marbled Salamanders were suddenly removed from this food chain, the Spotted Salamander population would explode.
With so many more Spotted Salamanders eating zooplankton, eventually, the zooplankton would become extinct in that area. Then, once their food source disappeared, Spotted Salamanders would also disappear.
For such a small animal, Marbled Salamanders are incredibly important!
#7. Northern Dusky Salamander
- Desmognathus fuscus
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults typically range from 2.5 to 4.5 inches in length though individuals up to 5.6 inches have been recorded.
- Their coloring ranges from brown or reddish-brown to gray or olive, with a whitish belly, dark speckles, and somewhat lighter tail.
- The hind limbs are larger than the front limbs, and males are usually longer than females.
Northern Dusky Salamanders are typically found in West Virginia in moist woodlands close to running water, such as hillside streams. They hide under stones, logs, and leaf litter at the water’s edge. They’re frequently found under rocks or logs partially submerged in streams.
These nocturnal salamanders leave their cover to forage at night. They may be active from dusk until dawn on damp or rainy nights. Interestingly, they have a small range and may only travel a couple of meters away from their territory searching for food.
Northern Dusky Salamanders feed on various terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates. However, they don’t prefer specific prey and eat whatever is abundant, including crustaceans, earthworms, spiders, insect larvae, ants, centipedes, moths, and mites.
#8. Red Salamander
- Pseudotriton ruber
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults range from 4 to 6 inches in length.
- Their coloring is bright-red, salmon-red, or reddish-orange with small brown or black spots and a somewhat lighter belly.
- This species has a stout body, a short tail, and yellow irises.
Red Salamanders in West Virginia are easy to recognize because of their bright red coloring and black spots. Unfortunately, they lose some of their brilliance as they age, becoming darker as the black spots blend in.
Like many salamanders, Red Salamanders are nocturnal foragers. You’re most likely to spot them hunting aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates on rainy nights. They’ll consume water beetles, spiders, earthworms, snails, slugs, and other salamanders.
Red Salamanders are a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. However, it is a protected species in several states. Due to their reliance on clean, woodland streams, Red Salamanders are heavily impacted by habitat loss and degradation caused by deforestation, acid drainage from coal mines, and stream siltation.
#9. Southern Two-Lined Salamander
- Eurycea cirrigera
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults range from 2.5 to 3.75 inches in length.
- Their coloring is tan to light yellow, with two black stripes running from the eyes down the tail.
- They have a thin body and black flecks on the back.
Southern Two-Lined Salamanders occupy temperate forests in West Virginia. As adults, they’re mostly terrestrial, but they migrate to streams for breeding. They spend most of their time in the cool and damp areas under leaf litter or logs. Your best chance to see them is on a damp summer night when they’re likely to emerge from their hiding spots.
Depending upon their location, Southern Two-Lined Salamanders may burrow into the soil to overwinter. In warmer areas, they remain active and feed year-round.
Southern Two-Lined Salamanders are opportunistic predators that consume any small organisms they come across. As adults, they’ve been known to feed on roaches, spiders, ticks and other insects, earthworms, snails, and crustaceans. That’s a pretty varied diet for an amphibian!
#10. Northern Two-lined Salamander
- Eurycea bislineata
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults typically range from 3.5 to 3.3 inches in length though individuals up to 4.8 inches have been identified.
- Their coloring is bright greenish-yellow to orange-yellow and sometimes brown, with flanks that are mottled grayish or brown, a line of small black flecks down the middle of their back, and two black stripes that run down their back from their eyes and break up at the base of their tail.
- This species has five toes on the hind feet.
Look for Northern Two-Lined Salamanders in West Virginia in moist forests near rocky streams. They’re occasionally found near wooded shorelines.
These salamanders are opportunistic predators that will feed on any invertebrates that come across their path. They eat beetles, roaches, springtails, earthworms, and snails.
Northern Two-Lined Salamanders are preyed on by several species, but their response to predators varies. For instance, when attacked by birds or mammals, they raise and undulate their tails to appear larger and threatening. However, when snakes attack them, they typically freeze or flee. Dropping all or part of their tail to escape predators is common.
#11. Long-tailed Salamander
- Eurycea longicauda
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults range from 4 to 8 inches in length.
- Their coloring is yellow to brownish-red with many black spots, which may form broken lines and are often more distinct on the tail, and a light yellow or cream underside.
- They have a noticeably long tail, large eyes, and a slender body.
Long-tailed Salamanders prefer wet, covered habitats like the sides of streams, ponds, springs, cave mouths, limestone seeps, and abandoned mines.
Look for these salamanders during the first few hours after sunset on humid or rainy evenings. They’re nocturnal and spend most of the day under rocks, logs, leaf litter, and other debris.
When threatened, this species of salamander will quickly escape into cover. If a predator grabs its tail, it will easily break off, allowing them to escape.
Unlike other salamanders in West Virginia, Long-tailed Salamanders don’t display territorial behavior. Groups of 80 individuals have been found under single rocks, and one study found 300 individuals at the end of a mine shaft!
#12. Spring Salamander
- Gyrinophilus porphyriticus
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults range from 5 to 7.5 inches in length.
- Their coloring is highly variable: salmon, brownish-orange, yellowish-brown, or red, often with darker spots or a mottled appearance.
- They have a slender build and a light-colored ridge bordered by brown or black runs from the eye to the tip of the snout.
Spring salamanders are semi-aquatic and can typically be found near springs, mountain streams, or caves. During the day, they spend their time beneath logs, rocks, or leaf litter on the edges of these water sources.
They eat various invertebrates like insects, spiders, millipedes, earthworms, and spiders. However, Spring Salamanders won’t hesitate to eat other salamanders, including their own species. Scientists have found that in some populations, the bulk of the Spring Salamander’s diet is made up of other salamanders!
#13. Mud Salamander
- Pseudotriton montanus
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults range from 3 to 8 inches.
- Their coloring is red or reddish-brown with black spots, and their color darkens with age.
- They have a stocky body, short snout, short tail, and brown eyes.
Mud Salamanders prefer soft, muddy areas for burrowing. They can sometimes be found in old crayfish burrows. They spend most of their time near burrow entrances and retreat into them when threatened. Their back also gives off toxic secretions to help fend off predators.
Due to their burrowing habits, Mud Salamanders are difficult to spot. Little is known about their feeding habits, but they’re believed to consume insects, earthworms, and arthropods. They may also prey on other salamanders.
Little is known about Mud Salamander populations, and sightings are rare. They are believed to be stable but are susceptible to water quality degradation and habitat loss. They are currently listed as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
#14. Northern Slimy Salamander
- Plethodon glutinosus
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults typically range from 4.7 to 6.1 inches in length though individuals up to 8.1 inches have been recorded.
- Their coloring is black or blackish-blue with numerous silver, silvery-white, or gold spots all over their body.
Northern Slimy Salamanders spend most of their time in moist soil or leaf litter beneath rocks, rotting logs, or other debris near the water. Occasionally they use other animals’ burrows. In cold locations, Northern Slimy Salamanders hibernate below the soil in winter.
They are a territorial species and will defend their territory aggressively. Their name comes from the slimy secretions they give off when threatened by predators. The slime sticks like glue, affecting predators’ movement. Northern Slimy Salamanders may also vocalize when physically disturbed.
Northern Slimy Salamanders are nocturnal. Look for them on moist nights when they feed on ants, bees, wasps, spiders, and insects.
#15. Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander
- Desmognathus ochrophaeus
Identifying Characteristics
- Adults range from 2.5 to 4.5 inches in length.
- Their coloring is brownish with various patterns that range from spots to a defined stripe down the back that may be yellow, orange, red, or brown. Some individuals have no pattern at all.
- The hind legs are larger and stouter than the front legs, and they have a round tail.
Look for Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamanders in temperate forests near rivers, streams, and springs. They often occupy rocky areas.
During the winter, adults congregate in crevices for protection from predators. When threatened by a predator, these salamanders can shed their tail to escape. It will break away and eventually regenerate.
Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamanders are most active at night though they may occasionally be seen on dark, rainy days. They feed on terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, including spiders, snails, dragonflies, and millipedes. They may occasionally climb into trees or shrubs and wait to ambush prey.
Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamanders are relatively common throughout their large range. However, they are listed as endangered and protected in Canada, where they’ve seen large population declines due to logging.
Which of these salamanders have you seen in West Virginia?
Tell us about it in the comments!
Also, if you enjoy this article, make sure to check out these other guides about herps! As you may have guessed, “herps” refers to herpetology, the study of reptiles and amphibians like salamanders.
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7 FROGS Found in West Virginia! (ID Guide)
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12 Types of TURTLES in West Virginia! (Both aquatic and land)
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16 Kinds of SNAKES That Live in West Virginia! (Includes venomous species)
