| Northern gray-cheeked salamander | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Urodela |
| Family: | Plethodontidae |
| Genus: | Plethodon |
| Species: | P. montanus |
| Binomial name | |
| Plethodon montanus Highton & Peabody, 2000 | |
The northern gray-cheeked salamander (Plethodon montanus) is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae and endemic to the Blue Ridge Mountains and Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. It is closely related to the Red-cheeked salamander and the Red-legged salamander. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. It is found under moss, rocks, logs, and bark in cool, moist forests above 2500 feet. Especially found in spruce-fir forests. The Gray-cheeked Salamander commonly eats millipedes, earthworms, crane flies, spiders, and centipedes and less commonly eats ants, mites, and springtails. [2] They eat spiders, moths, flies, beetles, bees, and snails. [3] The male and female perform a courtship, where the male nudges the female with his snout, does a foot dance, then circles under the female and the two then walk together. [4] Like other salamanders, they do not migrate or aggregate during breeding season. [5] It is threatened by habitat loss. [1]
