Your narrator holds one of Dr. Thomas Pauley's many publications on West Virginia salamanders, while posing with the man himself.
For the past 20 years, I have given talks and led field trips at the New River Birding & Nature Festival in Fayetteville. The festival always takes place at the tail end of April/early May, and I highly recommend it. GO HERE for details. This is one of the most biologically rich areas in eastern North America. An interesting part of those biological riches are salamanders, and a few years ago, event organizers got Tom involved. This was akin to striking gold for some of us, and I've had the privilege of going on several nocturnal forays with Dr. Pauley.
This year was no exception, and a small group of us headed into the New River gorge on the evening of May 3. the excursion was even better as we had two of Dr. Pauley's proteges leading us: Josh and Tabitha Stover. They are extraordinary herpetologists, know where everything is, and are incredibly adept at finding secretive amphibians.
The New River gorge, near Fayetteville, West Virginia. It contains scads of interesting organisms, among scenery to die for. For this trip, we descended to some cliff formations down near the river.
A Green Salamander (
Aneides aeneus) peeks from a fissure. For us Ohioans, this is a major rarity, and one must know exactly where to go. Down here, they are far more frequent, and we saw many this night.
A Kentucky Spring Salamander (
Gyrinophilus porphyriticus) watches us from its lair. We saw several, including one whopper that must have taped out at ten inches. It was a bit wary and backed into his fissure before we could photo-document the mini-monster.
A Seal Salamander (
Desmognathus monticola) has a look around before emerging. This is one of the most common species in the area. When we arrived, not long after nightfall, it was dry. Salamander hunting is far better after showers have moistened the ground, and lo and behold, after a bit it started to rain. We couldn't have coordinated the weather any better: after 20 or so minutes of fairly light showers, the precipitation stopped, everything was soaked, and a previously hidden army of amphibians emerged.
My Marsh Blue Violet (
Viola cucullata) shot was photo-bombed by another Seal Salamander. Look closely in the bottom right of the image.
A gorgeous Northern Slimy Salamander (
Plethodon glutinosus) poses for the camera. Handle one and you will see why they are so named. Sticky skin secretions smack of Elmer's glue. The gloss black base coat liberally peppered with white freckles makes for a very showy creature, though.
We were understandably pleased - who would not! - to see several fine specimens of Red Salamander (
Pseudotriton ruber). They are not uncommon here, but generally special efforts must be made to see one. Note the yellow irises. A similar species also occurs, but in lesser numbers, the Mud Salamander (
Pseudotriton montanus). It is also bright orange-red and flecked with black spots but has brown irises. It is also well-named, spending much time in soupy mire.
A Wehrle's Salamander (
Plethodon wehrlei) marches across a rock. While perhaps a plain jane compared to some of the previous species, it is a handsome creature with its snub nose, big eyes, and delicate saffron flecking. This is another common species in West Virginia, although herpetologists have long noted regional variation in the species. One of these variants has much larger golden spots, so much so that it suggests a Spotted Salamander (
Ambystoma maculatum). It was described as a separate species in 2019 and dubbed the Yellow-spotted Woodland Salamander (
Plethodon pauleyi). Note the specific epithet of the scientific name:
pauleyi. It is named for Dr. Thomas Pauley. A fitting honor for West Virginia's leading herpetologist!
Yellow-spotted Woodland Salamander has a very limited distribution in Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. I hope to make a trip with Josh Stover later this year to see it, and if so, will report on that with imagery afterwards.
Your narrator, while bumbling about, came across this strange-looking creature, which I thought to be a Wehrle's Salamander, but it didn't fit the mold. Not knowing what to make of it, I called Josh over and he instantly recognized it as a hypomelanistic (abnormally pale) Wehrle's Salamander. None of the rest of us had even heard of such a thing, and apparently this was the first record for the New River Gorge, although Josh says there are pockets of them elsewhere in the state.
All in all, it was a wonderful wet night of salamander hunting, with many interesting finds. I returned to my abode at midnight, dreading the 5 am wakeup the following morning. But well worth the loss of sleep, and I look forward to future West Virginia salamander forays.
Big thanks to Josh and Tabitha Stover, and Tom Pauley, for teaching us about these interesting creatures!