| Shenandoah Salamander | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Caudata |
| Family: | Plethodontidae |
| Genus: | Plethodon |
| Species: | P. shenandoah |
| Binomial name | |
| Plethodon shenandoah Highton & Worthington, 1967 |
|
The Shenandoah Salamander (Plethodon shenandoah) is a species of salamander in the Plethodontidae family. It is endemic to the United States and the state of Virginia [1]. It is only known from North facing talus slopes on three mountain tops inside the Shenandoah National Park. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and rocky areas.
Males and females typically establish separate feeding and/or mating territories underneath rocks and logs. Breeding occurs in fall and spring, with females attending clutches of eggs laid in crevices between rocks in their talus habitat.[2].
The Shenandoah salamander's entire range is entirely protected by the Shenandoah National Park, so habitat loss is unlikely to be a major threat, but the FWS identifies 1) defoliation of trees by gypsy moth, 2) its extremely restricted range size, and 3) competition with redbacked salamanders as reasons for its 1989 endangered listing under the Endangered Species Act [3]. Subsequent to this listing, Climate change, and the deadly amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis have been suggested as possible threats to highly restricted mountain-dwelling Appalachian salamanders [4].