Spotted salamander

Ambystoma maculatum · The spotted salamander is a stout, black mole salamander with yellow-orange spots, native to the eastern United States and Canada.

Also called Yellow-spotted salamander.

Spotted salamander
Photo: Riley Stanton, CC BY-SA 4.0
Spotted salamander
Photo: D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY-SA 3.0
Spotted salamander
Photo: MehmetNasuh1949, CC BY-SA 4.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAmphibia
OrderUrodela
FamilyAmbystomatidae
GenusAmbystoma
SpeciesAmbystoma maculatum

Where it lives

Deciduous forests of eastern Canada and the eastern US.

Fun facts

  • Spotted salamander embryos host algae living in and around them, the only known case of vertebrate cells hosting an endosymbiont microbe (unless mitochondria count).
  • When threatened, it can drop its tail and release a toxic milky liquid from large poison glands on its back and neck.
  • It can regrow lost body parts, even parts of the brain, head or organs, though this takes a massive amount of energy.
  • In one night, hundreds to thousands of spotted salamanders may travel together to their breeding ponds.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).