Trauth, Stanley E.

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Journal of the Arkansas Academy of ScienceVolume 54 Article 312000Winter Breeding as a Common Occurrence in theRinged Salamander, Ambystoma annulatum(Caudata: Ambystomatidae), in the Ozark NationalForest of Northcentral ArkansasStanley E. TrauthArkansas State UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaasPart of the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons, and the Zoology CommonsThis article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able toread, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking priorpermission from the publisher or the author.This General Note is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the ArkansasAcademy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu.Recommended CitationTrauth, Stanley E. (2000) "Winter Breeding as a Common Occurrence in the Ringed Salamander, Ambystoma annulatum (Caudata:Ambystomatidae), in the Ozark National Forest of Northcentral Arkansas," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 54 , Article31.Available at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol54/iss1/31157Winter Breeding as a Common Occurrence in theRinged Salamander, Ambystoma annulatum (Caudata: Ambystomatidae),in the Ozark National Forest of Northcentral ArkansasStanley E. TrauthDepartment of Biological SciencesArkansas State University, State University, AR 72467The ringed salamander, Ambystoma annulatum, is along, slender ambystomatid salamander that is endemic tothe Interior Highland ecoregion of Arkansas, Missouri,and Oklahoma (Anderson, 1965; Petranka, 1998). Thereproductive biology of this species has been studied rela-tively well within Missouri and Arkansas (Noble andMarshall, 1929; Trapp, 1956, 1959; Spotila and Beumer,1970; McDaniel and Saugey, 1977; Brussock and Brown,1982; Hutcherson et al., 1989; Nyman et al., 1993; Briggleret al., 1999). By all of these accounts, breeding migrationsto ponds typically coincide with heavy autumnal rainswhich usually begin in late September; breeding activitynormally ceases by mid November. The only confirmedexception to autumnal breeding in A. annulatum wasreported by Trauth et al. (1989) from the Sylamore RangerDistrict (SRD) of the Ozark National Forest (BaxterCounty) of northcentral Arkansas; the first observation ofthis behavior occurred on 14 February 1987. During theintervening years since the initialwinter breeding observa-tion,my colleagues and Ihave observed additional recordsof winter breeding activity inA. annulatum from the samegeographic region. In the following,Ireport on the mostrecent occurrence of this phenomenon in this species andsummarize other instances regarding winter breedingobserved over a span of 14 years.Incontrast to the initial winterbreeding site (Trauth etal., 1989) which was a remarkably small, ephemeral pool(dimensions of around 3.5 m X 4.0 m; the depth was ca.0.5 m), the temporary woodland pond from which themost recent specimens were taken (see Trauth et al., 2000)is much larger (dimensions around 30 m X 40 m; maxi-mum depth =0.35 m). Its location is withinStone Countyof the SRD. Since the 1987 observation, eight visits duringthe month of February to additional ponds and floodedwoodland depressions within the SRD have yielded breed-ing ringed salamanders in four more years (1988, 1991,1998, and 2000). Three of these observations were fromthe location described above. The most recent breedingincident (26 February 2000) occurred following moderaterainfall on the 25 th and 26th of February. A total of 17adults (1 male; 16 females) was collected; the breeding siteis also utilized, concurrently, by a number of otheramphibian species (i.e., wood frogs -Rana sylvatica, springpeepers—Pseudacris crucifer, and spotted salamanders-Ambystoma maculatum). Surprisingly, this woodland pondwas completely dry on 17 February 2000 as a result of afall/winter drought (total precipitation during the preced-ing months of October, November, December, andJanuary = 5.1, 3.1, 11.1, and 4.3 cm, respectively) and wasnearly dry again on 17 March 2000 (February precipitation=6.4 cm at the precipitation recording station inMountainView, Arkansas). While returning the ringed salamanderscommunally in a chilled, plastic, water-filled container tothe herpetology lab at Arkansas State University (on the26 tn ),most females began laying eggs. Egglaying contin-ued for three days in a refrigerator and produced a com-bined total of 3,285 eggs which averaged 205.3 eggs perfemale. Females averaged 89.6 mm in snout-vent length(range, 80 - 98).The possibility exists that these ringed salamanderswere stimulated by local rainfall to migrate to breedingponds that had previously been dry as a consequence ofthe lack of adequate rainfall during the normal breedingcycle the preceding fall. This hypothesis was rejected byTrauth et al. (1989) as providing the breeding stimulus forthe first observation; they based their judgment on theoccurrence of sufficient rainfall to fillponds during thefall/winter months of 1986-1987. Thus, the present ringedsalamanders as well as the ones of the initial discoverywere not likely holdovers from the fallbreeding cycle.Atpresent, five instances of winterbreeding have beenobserved during February in the SRD. These data suggestthat winter mating and egglaying may actually be a com-mon phenomenon inringed salamanders. Atthe present,however, it remains unclear as to why A. annulatum fre-quently breed during the winter in the SRD as wellas whythis observation has not been reported in other geograph-ic areas in the Interior Highlands.Literature CitedAnderson, J. D. 1965. Ambystoma annulatum. Cat. Amer.Amphib. Rept. 19.1-19.2.Briggler, J. T., J. E.Johnson, and D.D.Rambo. 1999.Demographics of a ringed salamander {Ambystomaannulatum) breeding population during migration.Arkansas Acad. Sci. 1999 (abst).Brussock, P. P., Ill,and A. V.Brown. 1982. Selectionof breeding ponds by the ringed salamander,Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 54, 2000157Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 54 [2000], Art. 31Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 2000i158Ambystomatiaae), in the Ozark National rorest of JNorthcentral ArkansasAmbystoma annulatum. Proc. Arkansas Acad. Sci.36:82-83.Hutcherson, J. E., C.L.Peterson, and R. F. Wilkinson.1989. Reproductive and larval biology of Ambystomaannulatum. J. Herpetol. 23:181-183.McDaniel, V. R., and D. A. Saugey. 1977. Geographicdistribution. Ambystoma annulatum (ringed salaman-der). Herpetol. Rev. 8:38.Noble, G. K., and B. C. Marshall. 1929. The breedinghabits of two salamanders. Amer. Mus. Novitates347:1-12.Nyman, S., R. F. Wilkinson, and J. E. Hutcherson.1993. Cannibalism and size relations in a cohort oflarval ringed salamanders {Ambystoma annulatum). J.Herpetol. 27:78-84.Petranka, J. W. 1998. Salamanders of the United Statesand Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press,Washington, D.C. 587 pp.Spotila, J. R., and R. J. Beumer. 1970. The breedinghabits of the ringed salamander, Ambystoma annulatum(Cope), in northwestern Arkansas. Amer. Midi.Nat.84:77-89.Trapp, M. M. 1956. Range and natural history of theringed salamander, Ambystoma annulatum Cope(Ambystomatidae). Southwest. Nat.1:78-82.Trapp, M.M.1959. Studies of the lifehistory ofAmbystomaannulatum (Cope). Unpubl. M. S. Thesis. Univ.Arkansas, Fayetteville. 36 pp.Trauth, S. E., M. E. Cartwright, and W. E. Meshaka.1989. Winter breeding in the ringed salamander,Ambystoma annulatum (Caudata: Ambystomatidae),from Arkansas. Southwest. Nat. 34:145-146.Trauth, S. E., M.L.McCallum, and M.E. Cartwright2000. Breeding mortality in the wood frog, Rana syl-vatica (Anura: Ranidae), from northcentral Arkansas.J. Arkansas Acad. Sci. 54:(in press).Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 54, 2000158Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 54 [2000], Art. 31http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol54/iss1/31

Winter Breeding as a Common Occurrence in the Ringed Salamander, Ambystoma annulatum (Caudata: Ambystomatidae), in the Ozark National Forest of Northcentral Arkansas

Winter Breeding as a Common Occurrence in the Ringed Salamander, Ambystoma annulatum (Caudata: Ambystomatidae), in the Ozark National Forest of Northcentral Arkansas

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