Mole Salamanders of the United States
3 Genera: Ambystoma, Dicamptodon, and Rhyacotriton. All occur in North America, from southeastrn Alaska and Labrado to the southern edge of the Mexican Plateau there are 18 species in our range.
Adult mole salamanders are cahracterized by robust bodies and limbs and short blunt heads. ack of a nasolabial groove between lip and nostrils distinguishes moles from lungless salamanders. During the bredding season males develop a swelling around the vent. Larvae have wide heads with ling plume like gills and well developed tail fins. Larvae of some species do not transform but breed in larvae form. Courtship and breeding usually take place in ponds in late wiunter or early spring. Fertilization is internal. Adult mole salamanders are typically terrestrial and confirmed burrowers. Both larvae and adults are carnivorous.
There 18 species of Mole Salamanders in the U.S.
Found from central Missouri southwest to western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.
Found from west of the Sierra Nevada between Sonoma and Santa Barbara counties, California.
Found from South Carolina to the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia and Florida west to southeastern Mississippi.
Found from the Pacific coast from Gualala River, California north to extreme southeastern Alaska.
Found from western New England and southern New York to Virginia and Indiana.
Found along the Atlantic coast, from Quebec to New Jersey and throughout the Great Lakes region.
Found from Coastal plain of North and South Carolina.
Found from Tyolumne County, California to southeastern Alaska and northeast to western Montana with separate populations in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, California.
Found from south central Ontario to Nova Scotia south to Georgia and eastern Texas.
Found from southern New Hampshire to northern Florida west to eastern Texas and north to lakes Michigan and Erie.
Found from south central Michigan and adjacent Indiana and Ohio, western Massachusetts south to northern New Jersey.
Found from South Carolina to northern Florida west to eastern Texas, north in the Mississippi Basin to southeastern Oklahoma and southern Illinois with separate populations in southwestern North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
Found from Ohio south to the Gulf, west to Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
WideSpread! Found from central Alberta and Saskatchewan Canada, south to Florida and Mexico, but absent from New England, the Appalachian Mountains and the far west.
Found in northern Wisconsin, northern Indiana, northern Ohio and southern Michigan east through southern Quebec to the New England coastal plain.
Found in the Olympic Peninsula, Washington.
Found from extreme southwestern British Columbia south along coast to Santa Cruz County, California, Rocky Mountains in Idaho and extreme west central Montana.
Found from Olympic Peninsula, Washington to Mendocino County California.
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