Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Cave sala­man­ders (Eu­rycea lu­cifuga) are found through­out the east­ern United States. Their range stretches from north­east­ern Ok­la­homa to west­ern Vir­ginia. Pop­u­la­tions of cave sala­man­ders are more con­cen­trated in the Ap­palachian Moun­tain range, reach­ing from Al­abama to north­ern Vir­ginia. An­other dense area in­cludes a span ex­tend­ing through south­ern In­di­ana, Ken­tucky and mid­dle to east­ern Ten­nessee. The west­ern­most part of their range cov­ers mid to south­ern Mis­souri, north­east­ern Ok­la­homa and north­ern Arkansas. (Brig­gler and Prather, 2006; Camp, et al., 2014; Lanoo, 2005; Pe­tranka, 2010)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Cave sala­man­ders are troglophiles, mean­ing they can live en­tirely in caves and de­pend on cave-like con­di­tions to com­plete their life cy­cles. Cave sala­man­ders are mainly found in moist, dark places such as caves, or under rocks and logs. They have been re­ported in rock crevices along river­sides. In south­ern Illi­nois adults also in­habit rocky bor­ders of cy­press swamp areas. Much of their pop­u­la­tion, though, live in twi­light zones of caves that are con­fined to lime­stone re­gions. (Camp, et al., 2014; Lanoo, 2005; Pe­tranka, 2010)

• Habitat Regions
• terrestrial
• freshwater

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• mountains

• Aquatic Biomes
• rivers and streams

• Other Habitat Features
• caves

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Cave sala­man­ders are among the largest of their genus. Dur­ing adult­hood their dor­sal pig­men­ta­tion ranges from bright red­dish-or­ange to a bland yel­low. Their ven­tral col­or­ing is a light yel­low and does not con­tain spots. Younger adults are typ­i­cally more dull in color.

The max­i­mum recorded length of an adult is 181 mm. Cave sala­man­ders have broad, flat­tened heads. Their large eyes mea­sure roughly the same size as their snout length. Snout lengths for fe­males mea­sure to 62 mm on av­er­age while males have snouts that mea­sure 60 mm on av­er­age. Both sexes have pre­hen­sile tails that con­sti­tute 52 to 68% of their total length. Cave sala­man­ders have four slen­der legs, two long fore­limbs, and two short hind limbs. Their front legs have four toes and their back legs have five toes that are webbed.

Sexes are dis­tin­guished by a num­ber of phys­i­cal fea­tures. Vents on ma­ture males have large mar­gins con­toured with papil­lae. Ma­ture males are also dis­tin­guish­able by their longer tail com­pared to those of fe­males. Male men­tal glands are also more rounded in com­par­i­son to fe­males. (Hutchi­son, 1966; Lanoo, 2005; Pe­tranka, 2010)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes shaped differently

• Range length

  125 to 181 mm

  4.92 to 7.13 in

De­vel­op­ment

Cave sala­man­ders go through meta­mor­pho­sis, al­though pop­u­la­tions of this species may ma­ture at dif­fer­ent ages. Meta­mor­pho­sis can occur as early as 6 months and as late as 18 months of age. Young lar­vae are ac­tive day and night. They switch to a more noc­tur­nal lifestyle as they ma­ture.

Their eggs have been mea­sured up to 5 mm in di­am­e­ter with white yolk that is 2.4 to 3 mm in di­am­e­ter. Their eggs have two trans­par­ent outer en­velopes. The out­er­most of these 2 en­velopes is made up of a pe­riph­eral gel, while the inner en­ve­lope is filled with fluid. Lar­vae mea­sure up to 10 mm in length when newly hatched. Hatch­lings start off at a mere 9 to 12 mm, but can reach up to 58 mm as they ap­proach adult­hood. Young lar­vae have a broad tail fin. These tail fins start at their hind legs and ex­tend to the tips of their tails. Their skin lacks pig­men­ta­tion, but con­tains gray spot­ting. These spots darken as they ma­ture. As cave sala­man­ders grow, their bod­ies be­come brighter or darker in color. They begin col­or­less and later turn a dull yel­low to a bright red­dish-or­ange. (Bishop, 1943; Hutchi­son, 1966; Lanoo, 2005; Pe­tranka, 2010)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis

Re­pro­duc­tion

Males pur­sue fe­male sala­man­ders to ini­ti­ate courtship. Male cave sala­man­ders court fe­males first by push­ing and rub­bing the snout of the fe­male. Males then press their cheeks against fe­males and move for­ward. Fe­males use their cheeks to main­tain con­tact with the backs of males. Males press their pelvic area against the fe­males once they have their tails po­si­tioned un­der­neath fe­males. Once this is ini­ti­ated, they both en­gage in a tail-strad­dle walk. Dur­ing this courtship, chem­i­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion takes place. Pheromones are known to stim­u­late the vomeronasal or­gans of cave sala­man­ders. Pheromones also pass neural in­for­ma­tion to the hy­po­thal­a­mus. This is a part of the brain re­spon­si­ble for the con­trol of sex­ual re­cep­tiv­ity. Not enough re­search has been done to know the exact mat­ing sys­tems of cave sala­man­ders. All that is known is that one male courts one fe­male at a time. (Houck and Ver­rell, 1993; Pe­tranka, 2010)

Fe­males typ­i­cally lay their eggs deep in caves. They lay 49 to 87 eggs, ei­ther singly or clus­tered, at one time. Lit­tle knowl­edge is known about the re­pro­duc­tion of cave sala­man­ders be­cause of their pref­er­ence for cave habi­tats. Eggs are mostly laid in springs un­der­ground, streams found in caves, or lime­stone pools away from cave open­ings. The num­ber of days until hatch­ing de­pends tem­per­a­ture. The colder the tem­per­a­tures, the longer it takes for the eggs to hatch. (Pe­tranka, 2010; Ringia and Lips, 2007)

• Key Reproductive Features
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• oviparous

• Breeding season

  Cave salamanders breed from October to January.

• Range number of offspring

  49 to 87

• Range time to hatching

  10 to 20 days

No parental in­vest­ment, be­yond egg-lay­ing, has been re­ported for cave sala­man­ders. (Lanoo, 2005)

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Cave sala­man­ders can in cap­tiv­ity for up to 9.1 years. Their lifes­pan in the wild is un­known. (Lanoo, 2005; Slavens and Slavens, 1999)

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  9.1 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  9.1 years

  AnAge

Be­hav­ior

Cave sala­man­ders in­habit the twi­light zones of caves along with long-tailed sala­man­ders (Eu­rycea long­i­cauda). This may cause in­ter­spe­cific com­pe­ti­tion due to their sim­i­lar diets. Cave sala­man­ders, along with sev­eral other am­phib­ians, have a unique abil­ity to use the earth's mag­netic field for nav­i­ga­tion. They use this sense as a com­pass to mi­grate to dif­fer­ent lo­cales within caves.

Cave sala­man­ders de­pend on cave-like con­di­tions to com­plete stages of their life cy­cles, such as meta­mor­pho­sis. These sala­man­ders mi­grate in the sum­mer to what is known as their sum­mer habi­tat and home range. They tend to be more ac­tive at the sur­face of the water dur­ing sum­mer months. (Hofrichter, 2000; Lanoo, 2005)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• troglophilic
• nocturnal
• motile
• migratory
• social

Home Range

Ac­tive ranges for cave sala­man­ders changes ac­cord­ing to the sea­son. How­ever, no areas have been re­ported for home range. These sala­man­ders do not de­fend ter­ri­to­ries. (Lanoo, 2005)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Male cave sala­man­ders court fe­males first by push­ing and rub­bing the snouts of fe­males. It is as­sumed that mat­ing sea­son oc­curs dur­ing sum­mer and early fall. Cave sala­man­ders com­mu­ni­cate using pheromones. Men­tal glands on their heads as­sist with trans­fer­ring pheromones, and Ja­cob­son's or­gans help them de­tect chem­i­cal sig­nals. Cave sala­man­ders also use the earth's mag­netic field to nav­i­gate in dark caves. (Houck and Ver­rell, 1993; Lanoo, 2005; Pe­tranka, 2010)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones

• Perception Channels
• visual
• acoustic
• magnetic

Food Habits

The diet of cave sala­man­ders con­sists of small in­ver­te­brates. This in­cludes spi­ders and other small in­sects. Lar­vae eat snails, spi­ders, bee­tles, and flies. Adults have a more var­ied diet, hunt­ing prey such as earth­worms, ticks, mites, and many other small arthro­pods. (Pe­tranka, 2010)

• Animal Foods
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods

Pre­da­tion

Cave sala­man­ders may coil their body and wave their tail above their head. This be­hav­ior in­tim­i­dates po­ten­tial preda­tors. They also have glands through­out their body that pro­duce nox­ious se­cre­tions. There are no recorded preda­tors of cave sala­man­ders. (Lanoo, 2005; Pe­tranka, 2010)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Cave sala­man­ders com­monly carry gas­troin­testi­nal par­a­sites. A study showed that 1 or more ne­ma­todes were found in 77% of the sala­man­ders tested. The types of par­a­sites found in their gas­troin­testi­nal tracts de­pends on the ge­o­graphic lo­ca­tion in which they live. Par­a­sites that were found in­clude trema­todes (Brachy­coelium sala­man­drae) and ne­ma­todes (Cap­il­laria in­equalis, Os­wal­docruzia pip­i­ens, The­landros mag­navul­varis, and Tri­choskr­jabinia).

Cave sala­man­ders may have in­ter­spe­cific com­pe­ti­tion with other species of sala­man­der. Often times, cave sala­man­ders will share the twi­light zones of caves with other species. (Cas­tle, et al., 2011)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

There are no known pos­i­tive eco­nomic im­pacts of cave sala­man­ders for hu­mans.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known neg­a­tive eco­nomic im­pacts of cave sala­man­ders for hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Cave sala­man­ders are a species of least con­cern on the IUCN Red List. They are not listed on any other fed­eral or in­ter­na­tional list. How­ever, cave sala­man­ders are listed as state-en­dan­gered in Kansas, Mis­sis­sippi, and Ohio. They are also re­ported as rare in West Vir­ginia. No known con­ser­va­tion ac­tions are cur­rently pub­lished for this species. (IUCN SSC Am­phib­ian Spe­cial­ist Group, 2014; Lanoo, 2005)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Sarah Par­nell (au­thor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity - Fall 2015, Cari Mc­gre­gor (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Zeb Pike (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Karen Pow­ers (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, April Tin­gle (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Jacob Vaught (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Galen Bur­rell (ed­i­tor), Spe­cial Pro­jects.

Ref­er­ences

Bishop, S. 1943. Hand­book of Sala­man­ders. Ithaca, New York: Com­stock Pub­lish­ers Assoc. & Cor­nell Uni­ver­sity Press.

Brig­gler, J., J. Prather. 2006. Sea­sonal use and se­lec­tion of caves by Plethon­tid sala­man­ders in karst areas of Arkansas. Amer­i­can Mid­land Nat­u­ral­ist, 155/1: 136-148.

Camp, C., J. Wooten, J. Jensen, D. Bartek. 2014. Role of tem­per­a­ture in de­ter­min­ing rel­a­tive abun­dance in cave twi­light zones by two species of lun­g­less sala­man­der (fam­ily Pletho­d­on­ti­dae). Cana­dian Jour­nal Of Zo­ol­ogy, 92/2: 119-127.

Cas­tle, M., D. Strohlein, B. Chris­tensen. 2011. Helminth Par­a­sites of the Cave Sala­man­der, Eu­rycea lu­cifuga, from west­ern Ken­tucky. Pro­ceed­ings of the Helmintho­log­i­cal So­ci­ety of Wash­ing­ton, 54/2: 269-270.

Green, D., L. Weir, G. Casper, M. Lan­noo. 2013. North Amer­i­can Am­phib­ians Dis­tri­b­u­tion & Di­ver­sity. Berke­ley and Los An­ge­las, Cal­i­for­nia: Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Press.

Hair­ston, N. 1987. Com­mu­nity Ecol­ogy and Sala­man­der Guilds. New York, New York: Cam­bridge Uni­ver­sity Press.

Hofrichter, R. 2000. Am­phib­ians: The World of Frogs, Toads, Sala­man­ders and Newts. Buf­falo, New York: Fire­fly Books.

Houck, L., P. Ver­rell. 1993. Stud­ies of Courtship Be­hav­ior in Pletho­d­on­tid Sala­man­ders: A Re­view. Her­peto­log­ica, 49/2: 175-184.

Hutchi­son, V. 1966. Cate­l­ogue of Amer­i­can Am­phib­ians and Rep­tiles. Clifton Heights, PA: Amer­i­can So­ci­ety of Am­phib­ians of Ichthy­ol­o­gists and Her­po­tol­o­gists.

IUCN SSC Am­phib­ian Spe­cial­ist Group, 2014. "The IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species" (On-line). Eu­rycea lu­cifuga. Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 06, 2015 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org/​details/​59269/​0.

Lanoo, M. 2005. Am­phib­ian De­clines: The Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus of United States Species. Los An­ge­las, Cal­i­for­nia: Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Press.

Pe­tranka, J. 2010. Sala­man­ders of the United States and Canada. Wash­ing­ton DC: Smith­son­ian In­sti­tu­tion.

Ringia, A., K. Lips. 2007. Ovip­po­si­tion, Early De­vel­op­ment and Growth of the Cave Sala­mader, Eu­rycea lu­cifuga: Sur­face. Her­peto­log­ica, 63/3: 258-268.

Slavens, F., K. Slavens. 1999. "Rep­tiles and Am­phib­ians in Cap­tiv­ity- Breed­ing, Longevity, and In­ven­tory" (On-line). Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 20, 2015 at http://​www.​pondturtle.​com/​welcome.​html#​INDEX.