I watched a Bizarre Beasts video about the wandering salamander, looked up the genus, and found that there’s a species that lives in a place I passed through every week before Helene. I haven’t yet observed a salamander (closest is a toad) and don’t know where to look. Would any of you like to go with me to look for them? I still need to get a new battery (should have it in a few weeks) and can wait several months for better salamander weather and better financial stability.
i’m far from WNC now but good luck!
assuming they share similar habitat preferences with the other green salamander species further west in NC - moist rock walls in dark forest - so even if you don’t find the salamander you’ll likely come across some other very cool critters.
lampshade spiders (genus Hypochilus) are prevalent, and maybe if you’re lucky (and out at night) you’ll come across some bioluminescent fungus gnat larvae (Orfelia fultoni)
A. caryaensis is critically endangered, and a large portion of its habitat was destroyed by Helene (https://arcprotects.org/hngrecovery/). I would gently suggest not going herping just to look for it unless you are experienced with green salamanders/have some purpose that will benefit the species (research, conservation, etc.) as disturbance to its remaining habitat and populations could have a negative impact on the species.
The green salamander, A. aeneus, is also present in NC and state endangered but is less threatened overall (https://herpsofnc.org/green-salamander/). If you are looking to see a green salamander, I would suggest that as the target.
That species was split from ‘anaeus ’ not too long ago. It is quite endangered especially after Helene. That area was heavily damaged. And is mostly inaccessible.
some biologists recently went in - arduous excursion- and surveyed what they could. Many former occupied sites were heavily altered. They did find some individuals but still low numbers; they remain hopeful but it’s a bit grim.
Indeed they’re nervous enough that they asked zoo staff to join and take some salamanders back for safe keeping and potential breeding.
You or I could not reach locations without major assistance even if we were allowed. My understanding is that The Nature Conservancy still has it closed or mostly closed.
As suggested you can look for Green’s. But even that is a bit of a needle in a haystack.
I don’t know how to go herping, and the only time I’ve gone looking for organisms where I wouldn’t have gone otherwise was City Nature Challenge (during Moth Week I looked outside my home when, but not where, I wouldn’t otherwise have looked). Can someone go with me?
I’ve ordered the batteries, along with the Vietnamese brown rice noodles mentioned in the taxonomic diversity of meals thread.