Caudata Hemidactylium scutatum -- Four-toed Salamander
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Purple shade indicates vouchered specimens. Light blue (cyan)
shade indicates photographic records. Yellow shade indicates verified
sighting. Slanted hatch indicates pre-1980 records only
NOTE: Not all specimens upon which these maps are based have been verified.
Key Characters: 4 rather than 5 toes on hind feet; circular constriction at base of tail.
Similar Species: Juvenile eastern newt, juvenile dusky salamander, redback salamander, zigzag salamander.
Description: A small (up to 10 cm TL), slender, reddish brown salamander with a black-spotted ivory-white belly. Costal grooves extend to midline of back. Snout distinctly pale brown. Some individuals have a broad pale brown stripe down midback. Tail breaks off easily.
Habitat: Boggy pools or spring-fed ravines in undisturbed or mature deciduous forests. Several localities are second-growth woods in soggy soil below dams of man-made lakes.
Natural History: Terrestrial adults occupy moist, rotten logs and feed on a variety of arthropods on forest floor. Mating occurs in autumn, before hibernation. During April - May, female broods 20-60 moderately large (2.5-3 mm diameter) eggs laid in a cavity a few inches above water within mats of moss or leaves, within logs, under rocks, or along spring-fed streams or pools. Within two months, hatchlings fall or wriggle into water where they develop into high-finned aquatic larvae.
Status: Threatened in Illinois. A few scattered localities are relics of post-glacial times when range was more continuous and northern forests covered much of Illinois. Populations in Cook and Lake counties probably extirpated by habitat destruction.