Natural History of the Ambystomid Salamanders of Illinois

Abstract

The meager amount of information upon the life histories and natural histories of the ambystomid salamanders is scattered in many scientific j ournals. It is thought to be desirable to gather together here the results of the work which has been done on the six species found in Illinois. A key to the Illinois species follows, p. 000. The family Ambystomidae is distributed over the entire United States, with twelve species represented. Of these twelve species, only six are found in Illinois. Ambystoma jeffersonianum (Green) ranges from Canada (Hudson's Bay) and the New England states, southward to Virginia, Illinois and Arkansas. Ambystoma maculatum (punctatum) (Shaw), the spotted salamander, ranges from Nova Scotia west to Wisconsin and southward to Georgia and Texas. Ambystoma texanum (microstomum) (Matthes), is known from Ohio and Illinois eastward to South Carolina and southward to Texas. Ambystoma opacum (Gravenhorst), the marbled salamander, has been reported from Massachusetts to Florida, west to Louisiana and Texas, and;the Mississippi basin north to Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois. Ambystoma talpoideum (Holbrook), the mole salamander, ranges from the South Atlantic and Gulf states, Louisiana to Illinois (extreme southern part only). Ambystoma tigrinum (Green), the tiger salamander, is widely distributed over almost all the United Sates, east of the Cascade range and Sierra Nevada, and extending southward over the northern portion of the Mexican plateau.