Mole Salamander Family

Ambystomatidae

Mole salamanders are stout with robust bodies and limbs and short blunt heads.  They do not have the nasolabial groove running from the nostril down to the lip which characterizes the lungless salamanders in the family Plethodontidae.   Larvae and adults are carnivorous and feed on invertebrates.

Mole salamanders, as their name implies, spend a great part of their lives underground.   Finding mole salamanders outside of the breeding season is often a matter of chance, but they can be found wandering on the forest floor on rainy nights and under logs or rocks during the day.  During the breeding season, triggered by rains in late winter or early spring, they migrate to congregate at temporary pools and ponds to court and lay eggs.  During breeding, males can be distinguished from females because they develop a swelling around the cloaca.  Breeding is completed in just a few days.   Eggs are laid in clusters floating on the surface or submerged attached to debris or sticks.  Larvae have wide heads, long feathery gills, and well-developed tail fins.  Some larvae of some species do not transform but breed in the larval form; such individuals are known as neotenic (from the term neoteny).

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