Northern gray-cheeked salamander

The northern gray-cheeked salamander (Plethodon montanus) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae and endemic to the Blue Ridge Mountains and Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. It is closely related to the Red-cheeked salamander and the Red-legged salamander. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. It is found under moss, rocks, logs, and bark in cool, moist forests above 2500 feet. Especially found in spruce-fir forests. The Gray-cheeked Salamander commonly eats millipedes, earthworms, crane flies, spiders, and centipedes and less commonly eats ants, mites, and springtails.[1] They eat spiders, moths, flies, beetles, bees, and snails.[2] The male and female perform a courtship, where the male nudges the female with his snout, does a foot dance, then circles under the female and the two then walk together.[3] It is threatened by habitat loss.[4]

Northern gray-cheeked salamander
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Plethodontidae
Subfamily: Plethodontinae
Genus: Plethodon
Species:
P. montanus
Binomial name
Plethodon montanus
Highton & Peabody, 2000

References
  1. Beamer, David; Lannoo, Michael. "Plethodon montanus". Amphibia Web. University of California. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  2. "Northern Gray-cheeked Salamander, Plethodon montanus, Plethodon jordani". Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  3. "Northern Gray-cheeked Salamander Plethodon montanus". Virginia Herpetological Society. Virginia Herpetological Society. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  4. Hammerson, G. 2004. Plethodon montanus. 2012 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 2 June 2013.


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