11/18/2023
This week's animal teach is the Frosted Flatwoods Salamander! This beautiful amphibian gets it's name from the frosting pattern on the back, concentrated on the lower side of the body. This salamander is scattered from the central portion of the South Carolina coastal plains south to Alachua County, Florida east of the Appalachiacola River. Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders are part of a family of salamanders called Ambystomids or mole salamanders which means they burrow underground for about 44-50 weeks a year! Presumably they utilize rodent burrows and root tunnels in slash pine flatwoods and long leaf pine forests. Then, in rainy nights in October and November, they emerge from their upland refuges to find breeding ponds in cyprus and blackgum swamps or in ephemeral wetlands like roadside ditches filled with rain water. They mate, lay their eggs, and then migrate back to their burrows during the rains of December and January. Female Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders will lay anywhere from 100-225 eggs per season, usually in clusters of 2-5 eggs, under flooded logs, or attaching them to aquatic vegetation. The eggs will hatch late November into January and will stay in the pond until March and April. The babies, or larvae, will hide within the aquatic plants in shallow water during the day and forage in open water at night. After metamorphosis, juvenile Frosted Flatwoods Salamanders migrate into the surrounding uplands and stay underground until they reach sexual maturity. As aquatic young, these beautiful salamanders feed on small invertebrates and zooplankton, and when they metamorphose into adult terrestrial salamanders, they graduate to worms and slugs. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the Frosted Flatwoods Salamander as threatened due to habitat and breeding site loss and over collection. However, there are efforts to save this fascinating species! Wanna help? Check out the Amphibian Foundation's hard work for the conservation of this amphibian species!
