Stats

Lifespan: 4-10 yrs
Size: Medium
Diet: Insectivore
Activity: Nocturnal
Social: Solitary
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: North America
Movement: Walking
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Toxins
Status: Uncommon

About

This stout mole salamander has bold silvery-white to gray crossbands over jet-black skin, a pattern unique among North American salamanders. Unlike most amphibians, females lay their eggs in dry autumn stream beds and guard them until rains flood the site and trigger hatching.

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: Ambystomatidae
Genus: Ambystoma
Species: Ambystoma opacum