Plethodon glutinosus
northern slimy salamander

The slimy salamander has an extensive range throughout the eastern and central United States. Starting in central New York and the southern tip of Wisconsin, the range covers much of the eastern seaboard, moving southward to central Florida and the Gulf coast and westward to parts of east Texas and Oklahoma. It is notably absent from the lower Mississippi valley, presumably because flooding causes frequent disturbance to the preferred habitat of the slimy salamander in that region (Grobman 1944).

The slimy salamander is commonly found beneath stones and decaying logs in wooded areas and alongside streams, as well as in the crevices of shale banks and along the sides of gullies and ravines (Davidson 1956; Grobman 1944). It generally moves about underground using animal and insect burrows (Cowley 1999). Mean home-range area is 3.01 +/- .613 sq. meters for adults and 3.46 +/- 1.851 sq. meters for juveniles (Marvin 1998).

The slimy salamander has mainly black skin, covered by abundant silver-white or brassy specks, or both; the ventrum has variable shades but is generally lighter than the dorsum. The organism is distinguished from other dark salamanders in its range by the presence of a nasolabial groove. More noticeably, P. glutinosus is defined by a slimy, glue-like secretion released from its skin glands. It has 16 costal grooves, on rare occurrences 15 or 17, and generally ranges from 4.75 to 6.75 inches in length (Conant and Collins 1998). Hatchlings are born with only slight dark coloration on the dorsum and none on the ventrum; melanin for the specks begins to appear on the dorsum after three days. Adult females exhibit slightly larger snout-to-vent lengths than adult males, but are otherwise similar in appearance (Highton 1956).

The slimy salamander is a territorial species, like most plethodontids. Individuals, both male and female, can become very aggressive in competition for space toward members of both their own species and competitor species (Marvin 1998). Females fiercely guard their clutches, in some instances neglecting to forage for food, and may abandon eggs if they discover any tampering at the nest site (Highton 1956).

Courtship consists of an elaborate dance performed by the male, detailed in Organ 1960. Notably, prior to the dance, the chin, feet, and white spots on the male will turn pink and later to a bright shade of red.

The slimy salamander is vulnerable to parasitism by some nematode worms, particularly when guarding an egg clutch, due to poor nutrition. The small activity range of the species also makes it a victim of predation by a number of snakes that occur in the geographical range or P. glutinosus (Highton 1956).

Prey of P. glutinosus consists mainly of ants (42%), followed by beetles (26%), sowbugs, and earthworms, depending on what is seasonally most prevalent (Davidson 1956).

According to the U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Service, the slimy salamander is considered neither a threatened nor endangered species throughout its range. However, some species within the P. glutinosus complex (see Other Comments) may be candidates for the endangered and threatened species lists (USFWS 1999).

Plethodon glutinosus is now taxonomically defined as a genetic complex consisting of at least thirteen species discernible only through laboratory testing, though many species are indistinguishable in the field and are therefore still considered for this project to be subspecies of a single lineage (Highton et al. 1989).