Wandering salamander

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Wandering salamander
Adult Wandering Salamander (Aneides vagrans).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Plethodontidae
Subfamily: Plethodontinae
Genus: Aneides
Species:
A. vagrans
Binomial name
Aneides vagrans
Wake & Jackman, 1998 [2]

The wandering salamander (Aneides vagrans) is species of climbing salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It has a disjunct distribution, with one population in northern California and another on Vancouver Island. It is unclear whether this distribution is natural or the result of unintentional human introductions. [2] [3] While it can be found terrestrially, the species is known for its habitation of the forest canopy, particularly in the crowns of coast redwood trees. [4] When disturbed, individuals of this species may leap from trees, gliding and controlling their descent in the air with various physical adaptations.

Contents

Description

A sub-adult wandering salamander Wandering Salamander (Aneides vagrans) Sub-adult.jpg
A sub-adult wandering salamander

The wandering salamander is a long, slender salamander that grows to a snout-vent length of approximately 80 millimetres (3.1 in) and a total length of 130 millimetres (5.1 in). [5] [6] Its base color ranges from brown to light grey, with lighter bronze-grey mottling distributed across its dorsal surface. Juveniles also have a coppery-bronze stripe down the spine. [6] The species has between 14-16 costal grooves, though 15 is most common. [5] The head is broader and more triangular in males than in females. [6] Like other plethodontid salamanders, they possess a pair of naso-labial grooves between the nostrils and the mouth that are involved in chemoreception. [7]

The species has adaptions conducive to an arboreal lifestyle, with relatively long legs and toes that have expanded terminal pads with square cut ends to aid in both vertical climbing and gliding. [5] [8] [9] The tail is prehensile, round in cross section, and helps the salamander direct its descent when falling. [5] [10] [11]

A dark morph sub-adult wandering salamander Dark Morph Wandering Salamander (Aneides vagrans) Sub-adult.jpg
A dark morph sub-adult wandering salamander

The wandering salamander is similar in appearance to the clouded salamander (Aneides ferreus) and they were at one time considered to be the same species.

Taxonomy

The wandering salamander and the clouded salamander were considered the same species until 1998. [2] Prior to splitting, the clouded salamander's range extended from northern California to Oregon, with an adjunct population on Vancouver Island. However, an examination of the mitochondrial DNA and allozymes of populations from various parts of the species' range determined that individuals from California and Vancouver Island were genetically similar to one another and distinct from the populations found in Oregon. [2] The species found in California and Vancouver Island was subsequently dubbed Aneides vagrans, the wandering salamander, while the species found in Oregon retained the name Aneides ferreus. [2]

Distribution

In California, the wandering salamander's range extends from northern Siskiyou and Del Norte Counties, south along the coast through northwestern Sonoma County. The species is widespread in low elevation forests across Vancouver Island and its surrounding islands. The cause of the disjunct distribution of A. vagrans is not certain.

It has been postulated that A. vagrans was introduced to Vancouver Island in the nineteenth century via large sheets of tanoak bark imported from California for the tanning industry, and then subsequently spread to nearly all the surrounding islets on floating logs. [2] Wandering salamanders are known to inhabit bark crevices, and several leather tanning facilities were established on Vancouver Island in the decades before the first recorded occurrence of the species in 1906. [2] There is also evidence of extensive tanoak bark importation from San Francisco to Vancouver Island in the late 1800s. [2] Tanoak bark shipped from San Francisco was harvested from both standing and fallen trees, and was usually not treated with harsh chemicals prior to shipping, making it possible that salamanders could have been incidentally collected and survived the travel process. [2] However, while tanoak bark importation is the most supported theory on how wandering salamanders arrived on Vancouver Island, questions still remain as to how and why the salamanders were able to rapidly colonize the entirety of Vancouver Island and its surrounding islets from only six tanneries clustered on the southeast coast of the main island.

Prior being split from A. ferreus, it was hypothesized that the species' disjunct distribution was the result of glaciation, with the species' once continuous population becoming fragmented by glaciers but persisting in refugia in California and Vancouver Island. [12] However, population fragmentation typically leads to genetic divergence over time, which would make the very close genetic similarity of the California and Vancouver populations somewhat surprising given how much time has passed since the last glacial period.

Habitat

The species occurs from sea level to 1,700 metres (5,600 ft). [6]

Adult salamanders can be found in the forest canopy, or moist terrestrial habitats such as rotting logs, bark crevices, stumps, and the underside of rocks. Individuals may climb up to 80 ft (24 m) in the branches of trees, and have been found living in the crowns of coast redwoods. Although research on arboreal microhabitat selection in this species has been minimal, they appear to associate with epiphytic fern mats in the crotches of redwood branches.

Life History

A juvenile Wandering Salamander (Aneides vagrans). Juvenile Wandering Salamander (Aneides vagrans).jpg
A juvenile Wandering Salamander (Aneides vagrans).

Reproduction

Breeding takes place in spring and early summer. The female lays a clutch of six to nine eggs in some concealed location such as under bark. She guards them as they develop and they eventually hatch directly into miniature adult salamanders with no aquatic larval stage. [6]

Inactivity

In California it may aestivate in summer and be active in winter while in Vancouver Island it may be active in summer and hibernate in winter. [6] [13]

Diet

This species feeds at night on small invertebrates such as ants, mites, adult beetles and their larvae, snails, springtails and woodlice.

Gliding Behavior

Wandering salamanders may leap from trees when disturbed, and have several adaptations that allow them to manipulate their descent. Wind tunnel experiments have found that wandering salamanders can control their pitch, roll, and yaw when in the air such that their body remains upright and stable in a "skydiving" posture that reduces descent speed. [11] [14] This posture generally involves spread legs and splayed feet, with the tail angled upwards. [14] The large feet and long toes of this species appear to help reduce drag when in the air, contributing to reduced speed. [11] [14] The long legs of this species also position the feet far from the body, which may aid in aerial maneuvering. [11] Parasagittal undulations of the tail and torso allow wandering salamanders to glide in a controlled manner similar to arboreal squamates. [11] This enables them to land on the trunk or branch of a tree — often the same tree that they jumped from — instead of falling all the way to the ground. [11] [14]

Status

The wandering salamander is listed as Least concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, though populations are declining. [1] Habitat loss due to intensive, short-rotation logging practices and land clearing for agriculture and residential development is believed to be the primary cause of population declines. [1] In addition to removing trees in which the salamanders may live, over the long term logging also reduces the availability of coarse woody debris on the ground, which the salamanders use as habitat and for egg-laying. It is thought that salamanders may thrive initially after logging, but decline as remaining logs and stumps decay and are not replaced. However, logging in British Columbia does not appear to affect wandering salamander populations, and the species can persist in regenerating forests.

Climate change is likely a threat to this species due to drought and habitat shifts in the coastal Douglas-fir biogeoclimatic zone in which the salamanders dwell. [1] The emerging Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans fungus also has the potential to affect wandering salamander populations, though it has not yet been confirmed to be present in North America. [1]

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2022). "Aneides vagrans". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2022: e.T59119A197437244. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Jackman, T. R. (1998). "Molecular and historical evidence for the introduction of clouded salamanders (genus Aneides) to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, from California" (PDF). Canadian Journal of Zoology. 76 (8): 1570–1580. doi:10.1139/z98-091.
  3. ↑ body., Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, issuing (2014). COSEWIC assessment and status report on the wandering salamander, Aneides vagrans, in Canada. Canadian Wildlife Service = Service canadien de la faune. ISBN   978-1-100-23928-6. OCLC   923013075.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ Spickler, James C; Sillett, Stephen C; Marks, Sharyn B.; Welsh Jr., Hartwell H. (2006). "EVIDENCE OF A NEW NICHE FOR A NORTH AMERICAN SALAMANDER: ANEIDES VAGRANS RESIDING IN THE CANOPY OF OLD-GROWTH REDWOOD FOREST". Herpetological Conservation and Biology. 1 (1): 16-26. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Aneides vagrans - Wandering Salamander". AmphibiaWeb. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Aneides vagrans - Wandering Salamander". CaliforniaHerps. Retrieved 2012-08-31.
  7. ↑ Brown, Charles E.; Martof, Bernard S. (October 1966). "The Function of the Naso-Labial Groove of Plethodontid Salamanders". Physiological Zoology. 39 (4): 357-367. doi:10.1086/physzool.39.4.30152358 . Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  8. ↑ O'Donnell, Mary Kate; Deban, Stephen M. (2020). "Cling performance and surface area of attachment in plethodontid salamanders". Journal of Experimental Biology. 233: jeb211706. doi:10.1242/jeb.211706 . Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  9. ↑ Aretz, J.M.; Brown, C.E.; Deban, S.M. (2022). "Vertical locomotion in the arboreal salamander Aneides vagrans". Journal of Zoology. 316: 72-79. doi:10.1111/jzo.12934 . Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  10. ↑ Brown, Christian E.; Kirk, Alexander M. (2023). "Characterizing lift, drag, and pressure differences across wandering salamanders (Aneides vagrans) with computational fluid dynamics to investigate aerodynamics". Journal of Morphology. 284: e21583. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brown, Christian E.; Sathe, Erik A.; Dudley, Robert; Deban, Stephen M. (2022-05-23). "Gliding and parachuting by arboreal salamanders". Current Biology. 32 (10): 453–454. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.033 . PMID   35609538.
  12. ↑ Peabody, F.E.; Savage, J.M. (1958). "Evolution of the coast range corridor in California and its effect on the origin and dispersal of living amphibians and reptiles". Zoogeography. Edited by C.L. Hubbs. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C: 159–186.
  13. ↑ Wake, David B. "Aneides vagrans". AmphibiaWeb. Retrieved 2012-08-31.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Brown, Christian E.; Sathe, Erik A.; Dudley, Robert; Deban, Stephen M. (2022). "Aerial maneuvering by plethodontid salamanders spanning an arboreality gradient". Journal of Experimental Biology. 225: jeb244598. doi:10.1242/jeb.244598 . Retrieved 9 January 2025.
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