While herping in the St. Louis area last weekend, I found a salamander that was definitely a highlight of my week-long herping trip.

Above, the ground color ranges from grayish black to black. The belly is normally slate gray to buff yellow. A series of bold, narrow white or yellow rings usually extends over the back but may be broken at the midline. The rings never completely encircle the body. This amphibian is usually 6 to 7 inches in total length.

The Ringed Salamander is a species of mole salamander native to hardwood and mixed hardwood-pine forested areas in and around the Ozark Plateau and Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri.

It is found in damp, wooded areas, usually under leaves, rotting logs, or in abandoned ground holes of other organisms – often near shallow ponds. Highly fossorial (adapted to digging), adults are commonly found in subterranean refuges.

This salamander is increasingly rare and perhaps endangered. This is likely a result of its restricted range and specific breeding habitat needs. In Autumn, stimulated by heavy rains and cool temperatures, they migrate by night to fishless woodland ponds, where they may congregate by the hundreds for breeding.

It was awesome to encounter this strikingly colored salamander that is mostly cryptic and underground most of the year.

Third Eye Herp
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