We start by meeting in Huntersville, NC where I pick up Mike and head to the town of Bat Cave, NC. We get to our first spot shortly before nightfall. At this location we are looking for Green Salamanders (Aneides aeneus), which are protected in North Carolina and are listed as a State Threatened Species, needless to say our approach will be hands off. We fail to detect any Green Salamanders but we turn up a young Blue Ridge Gray-Cheeked Salamander (Plethodon amplus). Plethodon amplus is a species is in the 'jordani' complex, where it used to be referred as a mere conspecific to a number of other Plethodon species in the southern Appalachians; P. shermani, P. montanus, P. cheoah, P. jordani, P. metcalfi, and P. meridianus. We observed P. montanus on our last adventure to Avery and Watauga counties in my initial Fun in Appalachia post.
The sun fades and we are left making our way to a nearby dirt road that cuts into a mountain. We stop at several areas along the road that look like appropriate habitat; rocky boulders covered in moss. On our first stop Mike and I both spot a couple adult Blue Ridge Gray-Cheeks (Plethodon amplus) - quick photographs are taken and we continue. On the way we spot a Northern Ringneck Snake out foraging and a few more adult Blue Ridge Gray-Cheeks. Finally, Mike spots our target here, a sub-adult Yonahlossee Salamander (Plethodon yonahlossee) - yes, the same species we initially targeted in my previous post. But its not what your thinking - this population used to be recognized as a separate species known as the Crevice Salamander (Plethodon longicrus). Individuals found here, in the vicinity of Bat Cave, look distinctly different. The Crevice Salamander lacks the deep red dorsum expressed so obviously on Yonahlossee Salamanders. Head morphology appears to be distinct between the two forms, however, this population receives no special taxonomic distinction. But, in my opinion - and that is all that counts - this is a distinct race; being geographically separate. I mean, if two seemingly identical Gray-Cheeked Salamanders (P. amplus and P. montanus) can be two completely separate species, then how can two different geographic Yonahlossee forms not be recognized at least on the subspecies level? In much the same way 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder', so is taxonomy - Ha, this is completely ignorant but its my blog, my rules!
I'm sure you can see quite the difference, too! After a few frustrating photos, we continue - like most salamanders, getting them to stay still for a photograph is a painful process, but worth the rewards, most of the time. The road turns out to be a short one, so we turn around to check out a small roadside stream we had passed earlier. The stream passes under the road via a simple culvert system, here we turn up three species of salamanders; the Black-bellied (Desmognathus quadramaculatus), Seal (D. monticola), and Ocoee (D. ocoee). Desmognathus ocoee is in the D. "ochrophaeus" complex, which includes four other species; D. orestes (see my previous post), D. ochrophaeus, D. imitator, and D. carolinensis. Species in this group are the most terrestrial members of the genus Desmognathus (Dusky Salamanders). Their most key feature is a tail that is round in cross section, unlike the other Dusky Salamanders which need a tail more triangular in cross section for aquatic locomotion. This complex mimics larger Woodland Salamanders (Plethodon sp.) quite well - more on that in a future post.
Mike spotted several large Black-bellies (4-6 specimens) poking out of a leaf-pack root system at the culvert edge. We devised a system that lead to the capture of one individual, while Mike netted another specimen in the culvert. After some tricky photography we left for our campsite in Macon County, where we would resume in the morning.
Well, we got lucky. Our campsite is home to at least three species of Salamanders. We got two of our four main trip targets within 10 feet of my hammock! Mike started the morning off right - with two Seepage Salamanders (Desmognathus aeneus) and several Red-Legged Salamanders (Plethodon shermani). We totaled with three Seepage Salamanders (finally flipped my own) and possibly more than twenty Red-Legged Salamanders (apparently abundant in one particular old rotten stump). We also flipped an Ocoee Salamander (Desmognathus ocoee), however, this specimen expressed red-limbs. The "red-legged" morph is wildly known from areas where Red-Legged Salamanders (P. shermani) occur - many believe it is a type of mimicry. The idea is that the Red-Legged Salamander (P. shermani) is mildly toxic to the point of distasteful to predators and by mimicking the red legs, Ocoee Salamanders can capitalize on predator identification and avoidance. It is a hard process to look at scientifically, but this relationship of "ochrophaeus" and "jordani" complexes extends range-wide. Another example can be seen in the case of the Imitator Salamander (Desmognathus imitator) and the Red-Cheeked Salamander (Plethodon jordani), where the Imitator Salamander exhibits "red-cheeks" in areas where it is sympatric to the Red-Cheeked Salamander. I know, pretty interesting stuff going on here, but the "ochrophaeus" complex does not just mimic members of the "jordani" complex, but like I said already, this if for another post!
After some extremely painful photography, Mike and I were off. We had already got what we came to this particular spot for, but we decided to look around for awhile. We found a nice little seep a few feet off one of the main trails. The seep didn't have much in terms debris to flip, but Mike managed to flip a nice Blackchin Red Salamander (Pseudotriton ruber schencki) larva. In this seep, where Red-Legged Salamanders (Plethodon shermani) are NOT present, we only flipped all black Ocoee Salamanders (Desmognathus ocoee); but right outside of the seep we flipped more red-legged Ocoee Salamander morphs, interesting! We continued to another seep, much more rocky. I immediately flipped a nice Carolina Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus dunni) larva. I used to flip Spring Salamander larvae all the time in West Virginia, it was nice to see one in North Carolina for a change. After some quick photographs we manged to hike a few feet in elevation and Mike flipped our nicest Red-Legged Salamander (Plethodon shermani) of the trip! It was a stunner. An adult male complete with a visible mental gland. The gland is used in courtship rituals and is known as a secondary sexual characteristic (appearing only during the active breeding season). We left the spot to travel back to Henderson county to search for our last two targets of the trip. On our way out we stopped at a roadside seep and flipped a few more Ocoee Salamanders and Mike spotted a young stripe-less Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis s. sirtalis).
We picked up a meal and some supplies (i.e., batteries) in Brevard before making our way to our desired location. We planned to hunt for Green Salamanders (Aneides aeneus) at night and in the morning venture out for some Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus). We drove through some rain which made the roads crowded with little Red-Efts - the terrestrial sub-adult stage of the Eastern Red Spotted Newt (Notophthalmus v. viridescens). Well, to put it shortly we struck out on finding any appropriate Green Salamander habitat and didn't get to hike any habitat. We didn't have any spots per se, and didn't see any good habitat. We decided to call it an early night and recharge for Timber Rattlesnakes in the morning. While looking through aerial photographs, Mike picked nice ridge to hike in the AM.
That next morning we broke camp and made our way. We decided on hiking a route that went along the ridge line - it was longer than the second option, straight up (but in hindsight I'm glad we went with the option we did). It ended up being a little more of a climb than either of us had anticipated, certainly not I. It took us about a mile to get to the first canopy opening, we were now on the ridge line. As we hiked we flipped a few rocks hoping for that elusive Eastern Milksnake (Lampropeltis t. triangulum), but no luck with that. We reached the first large rock boulder a quarter mile or so later. There was a nice large rock crevice in full sun, perfect aspect. I dropped and peered in, faintly making out a pattern I shout to Mike, "I see a copperhead!". Mike following suit and then moments later replies with, "Oh man, it ain't just one. I see at least...dude, there are neonates!" It was a pretty neat moment, we had found a Northern Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen) rookery (or birthing) site. We counted at least 9 adult snakes (most likely consisting of mostly females) and at least 15 neonates (all opaque, about to shed for the first time). It was quite the moment, very interesting to see a communal Copperhead birthing site. I had seen this communal behavior before in pit-vipers, with Timber Rattlesnakes in Maryland.
We snapped several photographs each and decided to keep hiking to the point we initially set out for, after all we had yet to see any rattlesnakes - and conditions seemed perfect. He hiked down that knob and up the next to our desired site, searched for a hour or so with little more than another, this time lone, Copperhead to show for it. No rattlesnakes for us on this day, but quite the view! It was easy to tell we were on the highest ridge in the area.
Mike and I headed back to Huntersville, where he then departed for Columbia and I, Kernersville. Another great trip and for me, a couple nice new lifers! 2012 has had a couple good moments...a couple.
