In many species, repeated exposure to the same mating partner (usually females to males) may be accompanied by a decrease in sexual performance over time. For example, Michael and Zumpe (1978) observed a decrease in the sexual performance of male rhesus monkeys presented multiple times with familiar, receptive females over 3.5 years. However, male performance improved abruptly when these females were replaced by novel, receptive females. According to sexual selection theory, in species exhibiting promiscuous or polygynous mating systems, males should avoid previous partners in order to distribute their sperm over as many individual females as possible, and to maximize the numbers of eggs they fertilize (Trivers, 1972). The phenomenon in which an individual sexually satiated with one partner will respond sexually to a novel partner is known widely as the Coolidge effect. However, Dewsbury (1981) has cautioned that many studies of birds and mammals testing for the Coolidge effect are, in fact, tests for related phenomena involving partner novelty. As originally defined, the Coolidge effect is limited to cases where a satiated individual responds to a novel partner, but not its previous mate, very soon after mating (e.g., Wilson et al., 1963). Empirical studies of the effects of partner familiarity are heterogeneous in both the experimental designs used and results obtained. Different designs may yield different results for the same species, and some species respond to partner familiarity whereas others do not (Dewsbury, 1981). Mountain dusky salamanders (Desmognathus ochrophaeus Cope) are found at higher elevations throughout the southern Appalachian Mountains of North America (Tilley et al., 1978). In a previous study of mating capacity in D. ochrophaeus it was found that a male does not inseminate more than one female per night, even when presented simultaneously with more than one potential partner (Verrell, 1988a, 1989a). Further study revealed that both males and females require a period of sexual inactivity of about three days between mating encounters if high rates of spermatophore deposition and insemination are to be maintained for periods as long as several months in duration (Verrell, 1988a, b). At least for males, female novelty does not cause a resumption of male mating activity in the short-term. In this paper, we test whether longer-term partner familiarity leads to a reduction in courtship success in D. ochrophaeus. Forty sexually mature D. ochrophaeus of each sex were collected in August 1988 from the vicinity of the picnic area at Deep Gap, near Standing Indian 93