A giant temnospondyl, an ancient amphibian, was discovered from an Antarctic fossil originally found in 1986. Named Kryostega collinsoni, the salamander-like amphibian was 15 feet long and had an unusual set of teeth. The teeth found on the palate of the salamander were found to be longer and thicker (1.6 inches long/.5 inches wide) than the teeth at the edge of the mouth (1.2 inches long/1 inch wide) .

I recently returned a copy of "Fossil Salamanders of North American" written by J. Alan Holman to my university library and thought a brief review was due. I got what I expected - detailed information on salamander paleontology like the fact that fossil salamanders were found dating back to the Early Jurassic Period roughly 150 million years ago. The book also provided a brief but very thorough introduction into the evolution of salamanders (particularly fascinating due to the recent discovery of fossil Gerobatrachus hottoni or elderly frog), ancient amphibians (apparently some were the size of a Volkswagen Microbus) and salamander biology (apparently neoteny played a major role in the evolution of salamanders).

In Alameda CA, 6,000 people including 3,800 elementary school kids came together for two weeks in mid-June to draw a huge 90,000 sq. ft. salamander. The artist responsible, Mark Wagner, Creative Director of the Kids Chalk Art Mission, provides a salamander-ladened story on his blog. The footnote of the salamander story blog entry states that he told the story to the elementary students of Alameda CA and I imagine this is the inspiration for the event. And, according to Mark Wagner's blog (which I couldn't confirm) the drawing set a world record!

Sometime last Summer on the side of the small U-Haul truck, I noticed a large, beautifully-illustrated image of a salamander. Several other U-Haul trucks with similar images showed up this Summer which spurred me to find some more information. I went to the U-Haul Web site and found links for images for all 50 states (and a few Canadian provinces) including the state of Washington represented by the Olympic torrent salamander (Rhyacotriton olympicus). The site provides images to download for a desktop, a page to print out for children to color and a way to order t-shirts of the image.

While looking on Flickr for a new desktop background I found this image (a portion of a much larger image) which the artist states as his "attempt at understanding [these] fine creatures". The larger image comes with names and descriptions of each species. Enjoy.

A July edition of Discover Magazine article (based on an excerpt from a recent book "Year Million: Science at the Far Edge of Knowledge") states that salamanders can perceive numbers. Intrigued, and without access to the book's references, I searched the Internet and found two articles: "Foraging Tactics of a Terrestrial Salamander: Assessing Prey Density" and "Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) go for more: rudiments of number in an amphibian". "Foraging Tactics of a Terrestrial Salamander: Assessing Prey Density" found that red-backed salamanders (red-backed salamanders, Plethodon cinereus, were used in both studies) were using information gained during prey encounters more than information gained during prey capture and therefore, perhaps, were "counting" prey. The other article "Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) go for more: rudiments of number in an amphibian" by Claudia Uller, Institute of Cognitive Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, went a step further. Conducted by presenting salamanders with test tubes filled filled with increasing numbers of flies from 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and 3 to 4, etc, the salamanders had similar results to tests given (of course, with something other than fruit flies) to non-verbal infants and nonhuman primates. Salamanders, like the non-verbal infants and nonhuman primates choose the test tubes with greater numbers of flies up until the test tubes contained more than 3 flies.

The definition of the word "count" is to "determine the number or amount of". The studies show the capacity within salamanders to have, as the Uller paper states, "numerical discrimination" or the ability to perceive"more". If a salamander can perceive "more", which is a determination of at least two amounts, then can't it be said that they can count.

Mimicry in snakes has been well studied but a blog post reviewing a recent article in Nature presented a compelling idea about how snakes may not be mimicking other snakes but salamanders. King snakes apparently are colored to mimic the poisonous coral snake. The authors expected king snakes with overlapping ranges to have more red and less black coloration (king snake look more like the coral snake) and as population moved further away from the overlap that the coloration would be less red and more black coloration (king snake look less like the coral snake). This makes sense as a brightly colored king snake in an area where there are no coral snakes would stand out, predators wouldn't know to avoid it and they probably would not survive. The data on coloration showed the reverse and the authors hypothesized that migration must be the answer. But another idea posted in the blog was that the king snakes were not mimicking coral snakes but that instead young, bright, red, king snakes mimic the bright, red, terrestrial red eft stage of the Red-spotted newt which happen to overlap ranges. James Petranka mentions in his book "Salamanders of the United States and Canada" that studies have found that salamanders, particularly Red Salamanders, mimic Red-spotted newts (red eft stage) but not because of Batesian mimicry (I want to look like you because they know you taste awful and I would taste delicious) but Mullerian mimicry (We both look alike and we both taste awful). What does this mean for the snakes looking like salamanders hypothesis? Maybe the answer is a combination of the Mullerian and Batesian mimicry or in other words everything that looks red should be avoided.

A new study by researchers at the University of Missouri shows that salamanders use migration as a response to environmental changes that occur when forests are clearcut. Not surprisingly, during the two year period of study, few salamanders migrated into the clearcut forest. The study does show that there is potential that salamanders that leave clearcut forests could return to repopulate the evacuated areas.

Image courtesy of Animal Tracks of Minnesota & Wisconsin

While at a cabin in Ladysmith, WI, I recently came across the book Animal Tracks of Minnesota & Wisconsin (Animal Tracks Guides). I didn't expect to find any information on tracks except mammal tracks. Surprisingly, the guide had an informative page on the tracks left by salamanders. The article states that salamanders leave a print of four toes from the fore foot and five toes on the hind foot print and often drag the belly and tail.

Three new salamander species were discovered in Costa Rica in the largest forest reserve in the Central America, La Amistad National Park. Discovered by a team led by Alex Monro of the Natural History Museum in London, all of the species found were small with the smallest, a member of the genus Nototriton, the size of a human fingernail. The other two species are members of the genus Bolitoglossa. None of the species have yet to be named.

In September of 2007 two new plethodontid species were found in the same area: Gomez’s Web-footed Salamander, Bolitoglossa gomezi and Brame’s Web-footed Salamander, Bolitoglossa bramei.

I had a phone call today from a fellow volunteer monitor. Out on a walk at a local nature center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, she took the occasion to check for salamanders and first try, found a Slimy Salamander. I am not sure if this was an attempt to rub it in my face that while they are enjoying 75 degrees in Tennessee, temperatures are roughly 60 degrees colder here in Wisconsin/Minnesota. Any opportunity for finding a salamander is many months away for me.