The Tellico salamander (''Plethodon aureolus'') is a small
woodland salamander resembling ''
Plethodon glutinosus'' found in mountainous and lowland regions of southeastern
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...
and extreme southwestern
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...
. Little has been published on the species.
Appearance
It has a grayish-black or black
dorsum with brassy spotting. The chin is light-coloured and the sides have more concentrated yellow or white spotting. Rounded in cross section, the maximum size for adults is 151 mm from tip of the snout to tip of the tail.
Reproduction
Sexually active males have circular mental glands just behind the chin. The courtship ritual performed is indistinguishable from ''P. glutinosus''. It ends with the deposition of a
spermatophore
A spermatophore or sperm ampulla is a capsule or mass containing spermatozoa created by males of various animal species, especially salamanders and arthropods, and transferred in entirety to the female's ovipore during reproduction. Spermatophores ...
by the male which is picked up by the female's
cloaca
In animal anatomy, a cloaca ( ), plural cloacae ( or ), is the posterior orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive, and urinary tracts (if present) of many vertebrate animals. All amphibians, reptiles and birds ...
l lips. Chemical cues are important in species recognition and prevention of interbreeding with ''P. oconaluftee.'' Males seem to prefer the odor of female conspecifics, while females tend to prefer the odor of male heterospecifics.
References
Further reading
* Petranka, James W. (1998) ''Salamanders of the United States and Canada'', Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press.
''Amphibian Species of the World''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2510668
Plethodon
Amphibians described in 1983