Number of Pages: 2Integrative BiologyGeological Science

Anderson, James D.

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Number of Pages: 2Integrative BiologyEarth and Planetary Science

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AMPHIBIA: CAUDATA: AMBYSTOMA TIDAE46.1AMBYSTOMA OP ACUMANDERSON,JAMES D. 1967. Ambystoma opacum.Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles, p. 46.Ambystomaopacum (Gravenhorst)Marbled salamanderSalamandra opaca Gravenhorst, 1807: 431.Type locality, NewYork. Type not known to exist, collector unknown.Ambystoma opaca: Baird, 1849: 283. Trander of opaca togenus Ambystoma.Amblystoma opacum: Cope, 1867: 173. Emendation of ge-neric and specific names.Salamandra jasciata Green, 1818: 350. Type locality, "NewJersey," probably the vicinity of Princeton, Mercer County.Syntypes Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1420-23,collectedby "Dr. Bache."Amblystoma jasciatum: Dumeril, Bibron, and Dumeril, 1854:106. Transfer of jasciata to genus Amblystoma.• CONTENT. No subspecies are recognized.• DEFINITION. A short, stocky species of Ambystoma with ashort tail (about 40 percent of Ihe total length) and shortheavy limbs. Adults average about 100mm in total length butmay reach 120 mm. The ground color is a lustrous black,almost deep purple in some individuals. The white, greyish-white or bluish-white dorsal markings are variable but basicallyform crossbands that often coalesce laterally to enclose blackspots middorsally. Most patterns are variations of bandingbut in some individuals the crossbands are incomplete orabsent. The pattern in such individuals consists of dorsolateralstripes, usually continuous but sometimes interrupted. Thelight markings are brighter and more distinct in males,especially during the breeding season. The venter is uniformlyblack.Recently transformed juveniles are variable. Immediatelyafter emergence they are brownish but gradually darken todark brown or black marked by a variable number of lightflecks that, after several weeks, increase in density to formthe adult pattern. In the flecked stage A. opacum resemblesa stocky Plethodon glutinosus.Larvae are of the pond type (as defined by Valentine andDennis, 1964) although the dorsal fin is not as deep as inmany species of Ambystoma. The color is generally brown toblack, with light spots or a light mottling dorsally and laterally.The spotting is variable and becomes more apparent as larvaeapproach transformation. A characteristic feature is a ventro-lateral series of light spots that form a line just below the levelof the limb insertions. This series of spots persists for a weekor more after metamorphosis and may aid in the identificationof juveniles with transitional patterns.Neoteny is unknown and is not expected in this specieswith its terrestrial courtship and egg-laying habits.• DESCRIPTIONS. Spermatophores and spermatozoa were de-scribed by Lantz 11930)and by Noble and Brady 11933);eggs and egg capsules by Bishop (1924,1941),Lantz (1930),Noble and Brady (1933),and Salthe (1963); larvae by Viosca11924),Noble and Brady (1933),King (1935),Bishop (1941),and Brandon 11961);metamorphic stages by Grant (1931);adults by Bishop 11941,1947), Conant (1958), and Smith11961). Many other regional guides and keys include briefdescriptions of adults and sometimes other stages. Numerousauthors have provided short descriptions of the nests andbrooding behavior of females, but the most complete and sig-nificant observations are given by Noble and Brady (1933),King (1935),and Bishop (1941). Cursory anatomical descrip-tions are scattered in the literature; the following are mostcomplete and provide additional references: Hoheisel 11931,general features of skull), Stokely and Holle 11953,vertebralcolumn; 1954,appendicular ske]eton), Tihen 11958,osteologyand phy]ogeny), and Baker and Taylor 11964,male urogenitalsystem). The opercular apparatus was described by Monath11966).• ILLUSTR~TIONS. A]though this species has been frequentlyphotographed, the most useful recent illustrations of adults arein works by Bishop (1941,1947),Conant (1958\, and Smith11961).A color plate is provided by Cochran 11961).Nobleand Brady (1933) provided drawings of the major variationsin color pattern and also illustrated the major features ofcourtship behavior. For photographs of nests and broodingfemales, see works by Bishop 11941,1947),Noble and Brady(1933),and King (1935). The spermatophore and spermatozoawere illustrated by Lantz (1930) and by Noble and Brady(1933); eggs and egg capsules by Bishop 11941)and by Salthe11963); early embryonic development by Barth 11953); larvaeby Noble and Brady (1933), King 11935),Bishop 11941,1947),and Brandon (1961). Bishop 11941,1947)included aphotograph of a recently transformed individual showing thejuvenile coloration. Illustrations of anatomical features areincluded in the following works: Dumeril, Bibron and Dumeril(1854, dentition), Cope (1889, skull, carpus, tarsus, andvisceral anatomy), Hoheisel 11931,skull), Stokely and Holle11954,scapula and pelvis), Tihen 11958,premaxilla, prevomer,parasphenoid, and vertebra), Baker and Taylor (1964,maleurogenital tract), and Monath (1966,opercular apparatus).• DISTHIBUTION. This species occurs from New Hampshireand central Massachusetts southward to northern Florida,westward through southeasternNew York to the region of LakeMichigan and southward through the Mississippi basin toeastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas.Specific locality records were given by Babbitt 11937,Con-necticut), Bishop (1941,New York), Bragg ancl Hudson (1951,Oklahoma), Brown 11950,Texas), Cook 11959,Mississippi),Dunn (1918,Massachusetts), Green 11956,West Virginia),Hoffman (1947,Virginia), Mohr 11930,Pennsylvania), Peters(1946,Missouri), Smith (1961,lllinois), Smith and Minton11957,lllinois and Indiana), Siebert and Brandon (1960,Ohio), and Thompson 11955,Ohio).The northern limit of the range is poorly known. Popu]a-tions along the southern edge of Lake Michigan in Michigan(Walley and Smith, 1951),Indiana (Smith and Minton, 1957)and Wisconsin (Dickinson, 1965) may be disjunct from themain range of the species. The scarcity of locality records inthe Appalachians suggests that A. opacum may be rare orabsent in mountainous regions.• FOSSIL RECORD. Unknown.• PERTINENT LITERATURE. Many notes and short papers havebeen written on the unusual life history of A. opacum. Thesummary of the life history provided by Bishop 11941)is thebest available. Courtship, nesting, delayed hatching and otherspecial features of the life history of this species were discussedby Noble and Brady (1933); King 11935)provided additionalinformation on nesting and requirements of the eggs. Stewart(1956)discussed the effect of temperature and food on larval de-velopment. Salthe 11963)compared the terrestrial egg with thatof other members of the genus. Relationships and phylogenybased on osteology were discussed by Tihen (1958). CzopekMAP. Distribution of Ambystoma opacum. Symbols indicatl(locality records. The type-locality, given only as "New York,"is not indicated. Arrows point to populations presumed to bedisjunct.\ "(962) describedthe capillary networksof the mouth,skinand lungs, and discussedthe relative importanceof theserespiratorysurfaces.Whitford and Hutchison (966) studiedcutaneousand pulmonarygas exchangeand (967) the rela-tionship betweenbody size and metabolic rate. Thermalacclimationand critical thermalmnimum werediscussedbyHutchison (961), and Moore (939) discussedthe develop-mentalrateof the eggs. Nocturnalactivityof larvaewas dis-cussedby AndersonandGraham(967).• REMARKS. Adultsarefully terrestrialanddo notenterthewater. This is theonly speciesin thefamilyknownto deposittheeggson theland in neststhatareattendedby females.In volume9 of theirErpetologiegenerale,Dumeril,Bibron,andDumerilreferredto this speciesbothasSalamandraopacaandasAmbystomafasciatum.The latter is giventhecommonnameAmbystomeIi bandesandis illustratedon plate105.Thesalamanderfigured ("yellowvarietyfrom the vicinity of NewOrleans"),however,is apparentlya largeAmbystomatigrinumwith a mavortiumcolorpattern.• ETYMOLOGY.The nameopacumis from the Latin opacusmeaningshaded,dark or obscure.LITERATURECITEDAnderson,J. D. andR. E. Graham. 1967. Verticalmigrationand stratificationof larval Ambystoma.Copeia,1967(2) :371-374.Babbitt, Lewis H. 1937. The Amphibia of Connecticut.Hartford: State Geologicaland Natural History Survey,BulletinNo. 57,pp. 1-50.Baird, SpencerF. 1849. Revision of the North Americantailed batrachia,with descriptionsof new genera andspecies. J. Acad. Sci. Philadelphia (2nd series), 1:281-294.Baker, C. L. and W. W. Taylor, Jr. 1964. The urogenitalsystemof the maleAmbystoma. J. TennesseeAcad. Sci.,34:1-10.Barth, LesterG. 1953. Embryology(revisededition). Dry-den Press,New York. xi +516pp.Bishop,ShermanC. 1924. Noteson salamanders.NewYorkStateMus. Bull., (253):87-102.1941. The salamandersof New York. Ibid., (324):1-365.1947. Handbook of salamanders:the salamandersofthe United States,of Canada,and of Lower California.ComstockPubl. Co., Ithaca,New York. xiv+555pp.Bragg,A. N. and W. F. Hudson. 1951. New countyrecordsof Salientiaand a summaryof knowndistributionof Cau-data in Oklahoma. Great Basin Nat., 11(3-4) :87-90.Brandon,RonaldB. 1961. A comparisonof thelarvaeof fivenortheasternspeciesof Ambystoma(Amphibia,Caudata).Copeia,1961(4):377-383.Brown,BryceC. 1950. An annotatedchecklist of thereptilesand amphibiansof Texas. Baylor Univ. Studies. xii +259pp.Cahn, A. R. 1929. The herpetologyof WaukeshaCounty,Wisconsin. Copeia, (170):4-8.Cochran, Doris. 1961. Living amphibians of the world.DoubledayCo., GardenCity, New York. 199pp.Conant,Roger. 1958. A field guideto reptilesand amphib-ians of the United Statesand Canadaeast of the 100thmeridian. HoughtonMifflin Co., Boston. xv+366pp.Cook, Fannye A. 1957. Salamandersof Mississippi. Surv.Bull. MississippiGameand Fish Comm.,(6) :1-28.Cope,EdwardDrinker. 1867. A reviewof thespeciesof theAmblystomidae.Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia (2ndseries), 19:166-211.- 1889. Batrachiaof NorthAmerica. U. S. Natl. Mus.Bull.,(34):1-525.Czopek,Juliusz. 1962. Vascularizationof respiratorysurfacesin someCaudata. Copeia,1962(3):576-587.Dickinson,W. E. 1965. Handbookof amphibiansand turtlesof Wisconsin. Milwaukee Public Mus. Popular ScienceHandbookNo. 10:1-45,3 pIs.Dumeril, Andre-M.-C., Gabriel Bibron, and Auguste H. A.DumeriI. 1854. Erpetologiegeneraleou histoirenaturellecompletedesreptiles. Paris, vol. 9, xx+440pp.Dunn,E. R. 1918.The collectionof AmphibiaCaudataof theMuseumof ComparativeZoology. Bull. Mus. CompoZool.,62(9) :445-471.Grant, M. P. 1931. Diagnosticstagesof metamorphosisinAmblystoma jeffersonianumand Amblystoma opacum.Anat. Rec.,50) :1-15.46.2Gravenhorst,Johann Ludwig Christian. 1807. VergliechendeUebersichtdesLinneischenund einerneuernzoologischenSysteme,etc. Gottingen.Green,Jacob. 1818. Descriptionsof severalspeciesof NorthAmerican Amphibia, accompaniedwith observations.J.Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia Ost series),1:348-359.Green, N. Bayard. 1956. The ambystomidsalamandersofWestVirginia. Proc. West Virginia Acad. Sci., 27:16-18.Hoffman, R. L. 1947. Distribution of two salamandersinVirginia. Herpetologica,4(2) :67-68.Hoheisel,W. F. 1931. Distinctiveskull charactersin speciesof the genusAmbystoma.Trans. Illinois Acad. Sci., 24(2) :203-221.Hoopes,Isabel. 1938. Marbledsalamanderfrom New Hamp-shire. New EnglandMus. Nat. Hist. Bull., (87):16-17.Hutchison, Victor H. 1961. Critical thermal maxima insalamanders.Physiol. Zool.,34(2):92-125.King, Willis. 1935. Ecological observationsof Ambystomaopacum. Ohio J. Sci., 35(1):4-17.Lantz,L. A. 1930. Noteson the breedinghabits and larvaldevelopmentof Ambystomaopacum. Ann. Mag. Nat.Hist., 5(0) :322-325.Mohr, Charles E. 1930. The ambystomidsalamandersofPennsylvania.Proc. PennsylvaniaAcad. Sci., 4:50-55.Monath, Thomas. 1966. The opercular apparatusof sala-manders. J. Morphology,116(2) :149-170.Moore, John A. 1939. Temperaturetoleranceand rate ofdevelopmentin eggs of Amphibia. Ecology,20(4) :459-478.Noble,G. K. andM. K. Brady. 1933. Observationson thelifehistory of the marbledsalamander,Ambystomaopacum.Zoologica,11(8) :89-132.Peters,J. A. 1946. Recordsof certainNorth Americansala-manders. Copeia,1946(2) :106.Salthe,StanleyN. 1963. The eggcapsulesin the Amphibia.J. Morphology,113(2):161-171.Siebert,Henri C. and Ronald A. Brandon. 1960. The sala-mandersof southeasternOhio. Ohio J. Sci., 60(5) :291-303.Smith, Philip W. 1961. The amphibiansand reptiles ofIllinois. Illinois Nat. Hist. SurveyBull., 28(art. 1) :1-298.andShermanA. Minton, Jr. 1957. A distributionalsum-maryof the herpetofaunaof Illinois and Indiana. Amer.Midland Nat., 58(2) :341-351.Stewart,MargaretMcB. 1956. The separateeffectsof foodand temperaturedifferenceson developmentof marbledsalamanderlarvae. J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc.,72(1) :47-56.Stokely,Paul S. and Paul A. Holle. 1953. Variation in thevertebralaxisof theAmbystomidae.Herpetologica,9(3) :133-138.- 1954. Appendicularskeletonof theAmbystomidae.Ibid.,10(l) :57-61.Thompson,Fred G. 1955. Three notable records of themarbledsalamanderin northernOhio. Herpetologica,11(3) :183-184.Tihen, JosephA. 1958. Commentson theosteologyandphy-logenyof ambystomidsalamanders.Bull. Florida StateMus.,3:1-50.Valentine,B. D. and D. M. Dennis. 1964. A comparisonofthe gill-arch systemand fins of three generaof larvalsalamanders,Rhyacotriton,Gyrinophilusand Ambystoma.Copeia,19640) :196-201.Viosca, Percy. 1924. Observationson the life history ofAmbystomaopacum. Copeia, (34) :86--88.Walley,H. andP. W. Smith. 1951. The marbledsalamander,Ambystomaopacum(Gravenhorst),in Michigan. Copeia,1951(4):309.Whitford,W. G. andV. H. Hutchison. 1966. Cutaneousandpulmonarygas exchangein ambystomatidsalamanders.Copeia,1966(3) :573-577.1967. Body size and metabolic rate in salamanders.Physiol. Zool.,40(2):127-133.J. D. ANDERSON,RUTGERSUNIVERSITY,NEWARK,NEW JERSEY07102.Published11August1967by theAmericanSocietyof Ichthyol-ogistsandHerpetologists.Publicationis supportedby NationalScienceFoundationgrantG24231.Primaryeditorfor this account,Richard G. Zweifel." ..

Ambystoma opacum

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Ambystoma opacum

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