Stats

Lifespan: Up to 10 yrs
Size: Small
Diet: Insectivore
Activity: Nocturnal
Social: Solitary
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: North America
Movement: Walking
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Camouflage
Status: Uncommon

About

This slender, yellow-to-orange salamander gets its name from the pair of dark stripes running down its back from eye to tail. It lives near streams and seepages in eastern forests, where its larvae can spend up to three years in the water before metamorphosing.

Life cycle

1.
egg
A jelly-coated egg is laid in water and develops over days into an aquatic larva.
2.
tadpole
A gilled tadpole swims and grazes on algae, slowly absorbing its tail and growing limbs.
3.
juvenile
A near-adult amphibian leaves the water with new legs and lungs, smaller than the mature form.
4.
adult
Fully grown at adult size, breathing air.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Caudata
Family: Plethodontidae
Genus: Eurycea
Species: Eurycea cirrigera