Favoritos de radbackedsalamander

Picture taken at night, 8 cm lenght.

Next 44 observations were made by a group of zoology students of the Universidad Nacional de Medellín. This place is called "Cerro el inglés" and belongs to Serrania de los paraguas. The locals have made a excelent work conserving this place.

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/Serraniagua

This is a HUGE female "Eastern" Hellbender (amusingly referred to as the "Snot-Otter" by local fishermen), at 27.5" (Record is 29"). After reading Bishop's seminal work "Handbook of Salamanders", my best friend/cousin/herper Pete and I decided to check out some historical records listed in the book. We decided to examine some old locality records in Delaware County, and were amazed to find a population still extant at this locale (observed a total of 4 individuals). Unfortunately, we noticed the water quality decreasing as we searched downstream, encountering several small factories pumping effluent directly into the river. I believe this had affected this population negatively even then, as we observed no sub-adults/juveniles, and all were apparently old adults. One specimen had an unusual, large, egg-shaped tumor/lesion on its tail, possibly related to the poor water quality. I often wonder as to the fate of this population of magnificent "Giant Salamanders", some thirty-odd years later.

Everybody's heard of "Walking with Dinosaurs" - how about "Swimming with Salamanders"? haha! Part of an awesome field day with my cousin Pete 30-some years ago - found about 15 of these amazing creatures in all growth stages, saw Long-tailed Salamanders, Milksnakes, Wood Turtles - and even saved a beautiful black-phase Timber Rattler from a miserable fate at the hands of two trout fishermen (of the "only good snake is a dead snake" mentality!). Good times! Happy Valentine's Day to all the lovely Ladies of iNaturalist!

One of 4 individuals of this amazing species observed while exploring a tributary of the Unadilla River. After reading Bishop's seminal work "Handbook of Salamanders", my best friend/cousin/fellow Herpetologist "Pete" (@jdanch) and I decided to check out some historical New York State records for C. alleghaniensis listed in the book, some dating back to the 1940's! We set out on a field trip to examine some old locality records from Delaware County, and were amazed to find a population still extant at one particular locale. Unfortunately we noticed a decrease in the water quality as we worked our way downstream, encountering several small factories pumping effluent directly into the river. I believe this had negatively impacted this population even prior to the 1980's, as we observed no subadults or juveniles, only the 4 large and apparently old adults (one being a "monster" female, only 2 inches shy of the 29 1/8" record specimen!) - despite the two of us having field experience with this species, and a thorough search of over a mile of potential habitat. One specimen had an unusual, large "egg-shaped" growth/lesion on the upper caudal region, a condition I suspect was related to the deteriorating water quality. Sadly, it has come to my knowledge that recent biological surveys at this location targeting this particular species have produced no additional observations of North America's very own magnificent "Giant Salamander".

Wild adult found at the end of a day of headstarting young Hellbenders with Kenneth Roblee, by far the largest of several individuals we encountered that evening. Measured (21 inches and 700 grams) and tagged before it was set free

Unsure if this is a known population.

I've been checking out a few spots where this species may occur and got lucky, as I wasn't given coordinates or even a general area.

I counted about 7 plants in bud, with another 3 appearing to have just leaves. Location was a small hill slope just upland of a inundated swamp. Overstory consisted of Red Maple, White Pine, Yellow Birch and American Holly and various Oak species. Midstory shrubs included what appear to be Blueberry and Swamp Azalea as well as Greenbriar and Sawbriar (Smilax glauca). Cooccurring ground cover included a small white species of Violet, Coptis trifolia, Mitchella repens, Maianthemum canadense and Anemonoides quinquefolia.

I hiked five miles through the area and did not find any other populations.

Obscuring all other observations from the day. Will report site to DCR through portal.

Bisexual inflorescence, terminal spike entirely staminate, perigynia pubescent without obvious teeth, spikes sessile, scales awnless place this in Acrocystis (Master Key to Carex in Sedges of Maine). Within Acrocystis, the key points to C. communis because the perigynium body is about as wide as long, and the widest leaf is >3mm wide (maybe 3.7mm). However, the perigynium beak is well over 1mm long, the carpellate scales are reddish brown, and the lowest proximal pistillate bract overtops the staminate spike, all of which are wrong for C. communis. Based on the perigynium shape, particularly the beak length, this is C. lucorum despite the wide leaf.

The story as I remember it on this one. Someone sent me a text saying they found this snake and had it in a bucket but wanted me to ID it. They "tossed a lizard in with it". I got there later and looked in the bucket under something they had and it was eating the ground skink. Kind of freaked me out when I saw it for two reasons, they had a protected species in a bucket which is a no no and the fact that it was eating a skink. Any website you go to at this point only listed crowned snakes as their food source. Since this pic you see more than just snakes listed. I caught a lot of hell for this pic I took and encouraged the home owner to release it back where he found it after it finished eating

Collected as part of an official research survey for this species. This individual had been initially tagged and stocked into Allegheny Reservoir 5 years prior, and at some point went over the reservoir's dam and swam back up into this nearby tributary of the Allegheny River.