The reticulated flatwoods salamander (''Ambystoma bishopi'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

mole salamander The mole salamanders (genus ''Ambystoma'') are a group of Salamandroidea, advanced salamanders endemic to North America. The group has become famous due to the study of the axolotl (''A. mexicanum'') in research on neoteny, paedomorphosis, and t ...

, an amphibian in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Ambystomatidae Ambystomatidae is a family of salamanders belonging to the Suborder Salamandroidea in the class Amphibia. It contains two genera, ''Ambystoma'' (the mole salamanders) and ''Dicamptodon'' (the Pacific giant salamanders). ''Ambystoma'' contains ...

. The species is native to a small portion of the southeastern coastal plain of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the western panhandle of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and extreme southwestern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. The species once occurred in portions of southern

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

but is now considered extirpated there. Its ecology and life history are nearly identical to its sister species, the

frosted flatwoods salamander The frosted flatwoods salamander (''Ambystoma cingulatum'') is an endangered salamander species native to the Southeastern United States. Description It is a small (9–13.5 cm total length), elongated species of mole salamander. It has ...

(''A. cingulatum''). ''A. bishopi'' inhabits seasonally wet pine

flatwoods Flatwoods, pineywoods, pine savannas and longleaf pine–wiregrass ecosystem are terms that refer to an ecological community in the southeastern coastal plain of North America. Flatwoods are an ecosystem maintained by wildfire or prescribed fir ...

and pine

savannas A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient li ...

west of the

Apalachicola River The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately long, in the state of Florida. The river's large drainage basin, watershed, known as the ACF River Basin, Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint (ACF) River Basin, drains an area of approximately ...

Flint River The Flint River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains of western Georgia, flowing south from th ...

system. The

fire ecology Fire ecology is a scientific discipline concerned with the effects of fire on natural ecosystems. Many ecosystems, particularly prairie, savanna, chaparral and coniferous forests, have evolved with fire as an essential contributor to habitat vit ...

of longleaf pine savannas is well-known, but there is less information on natural fire frequencies of wetland habitats in this region.Frost CC (1993). "Presettlement fire regimes in southeastern marshes, peatlands, and swamps". pp. 39-60 ''In'': Cerulean SI, Engstrom RT (editors). (1993). ''Fire in Wetlands: A Management Perspective''. Proceedings of the 19th Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, Tallahassee, FL, November 3–6, 1993. Like the

, the reticulated flatwoods salamander breeds in

ephemeral wetland Ephemerality (from the Greek language, Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and ...

s with extensive emergent vegetation, probably maintained by summer fires. Wetlands overgrown with woody shrubs are less likely to support breeding populations.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''bishopi'', is in honor of American herpetologist Sherman C. Bishop.

Description

''Ambystoma bishopi'' is a medium-sized species with a snout to vent length of and 14 to 16

costal groove The rib cage or thoracic cage is an endoskeletal enclosure in the thorax of most vertebrates that comprises the ribs, vertebral column and sternum, which protect the vital organs of the thoracic cavity, such as the heart, lungs and great vessels ...

s. The head is long with a tapered snout and there are

vomerine teeth The vomer (; ) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxillary bones. The vomer forms t ...

in the roof of the mouth. The forelimbs are stout and the tail is flattened towards the tip, being shorter than the head and body length combined. The skin is smooth and the dorsal surface is reticulated, with thin grey lines forming a net-like pattern on a brownish-black background. The ventral surface is dark with sparse white speckles. This salamander is similar in appearance to ''

Ambystoma cingulatum The frosted flatwoods salamander (''Ambystoma cingulatum'') is an endangered salamander species native to the Southeastern United States. Description It is a small (9–13.5 cm total length), elongated species of mole salamander. It has ...

'' but the latter has a more frosted dorsal pattern and larger white spots on the ventral surface.

Distribution and habitat

''Ambystoma bishopi'' is a burrowing species of salamander and lives among the leaf litter beneath

longleaf pine The longleaf pine (''Pinus palustris'') is a pine species native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Virginia, extending into northern and central Florida. In this area it is also known as ...

(''Pinus palustris'') and

wiregrass Wiregrass is a common name for several plants Wiregrass may refer to: * Poaceae grasses ** ''Aristida'' (three-awns), especially ''Aristida stricta'' (Pineland Three-awn), '' Aristida junciformis'' and ''Aristida purpurea'' (Purple Three-awn), of ...

(''Aristida stricta'') in the flatwoods coastal plain ecosystems of the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

Biology

''Ambystoma bishopi'' is a terrestrial species. Breeding starts with the arrival of the rains in October. Eggs are laid in small depressions under herbaceous vegetation or leaf litter, at the base of stumps, in the entrances of crayfish holes, or in other hidden places near ponds. After about three weeks they are ready to hatch but do not do so until they are flooded with water. The larvae are nocturnal, hiding during the day in the leaf litter and emerging to feed in the water at night.

Metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth transformation or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and different ...

usually takes place in the spring and mature individuals move to higher areas away from water where they live until the fall, when they return to flooded areas to breed. Hatchlings need a minimum of eleven weeks but a maximum of up to eighteen weeks, depending on conditions, to fully metamorphose into terrestrial adults. ''A. bishopi'' was described in 1950 and received endangered status by the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...

in 2008. In its

Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...

, the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

lists ''Ambystoma bishopi'' as being endangered. This is because the population trend is downward, as a result of

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and an increase in undergrowth. Because of the mismanagement of the regulatory fires needed by Longleaf Pine forests, much of the habitat that this species relies on is degraded to the point of habitat destruction, which is the main threat to its populations.

Etymology

Description

Distribution and habitat

Biology

References

Further reading