Natural History of the Salamander
The Sacramento Mountains Salamander, _Aneides hardii_ (Taylor), is a plethodontid of relict distribution in the spruce-fir vegetational formation from 8500 to 9600 feet elevation in Otero and Lincoln counties, New Mexico. The salamanders on which most of this report is based were collected three, four, and six miles northeast of Cloudcroft in the Sacramento Mountains. Additional individuals were collected on the eastern slope of Sierra Blanca, 1.5 miles southwest of Monjeau Lookout, at about 9000 feet, Lincoln County, and in the vicinity of Summit Springs and Koprian Springs, 9300 feet, Capitan Mountains, Lincoln County. Certain details concerning the populations in Lincoln County will be reported elsewhere (Schad, Stewart, and Harrington, Canadian Jour. Zool., in press).
We would like to thank Mmes. Donna Schad and Lora Lee Johnston, Messrs. Robert Stewart, Frederick Harrington and Ralph Raitt, and Dr. Robert Selander for assistance in the field, Dr. W. Frank Blair and Dr. Marlowe Anderson for the use of specimens in their care, and Dr. A. Byron Leonard for the identification of the molluscan food items.
In the summer rainy season _A. hardii_ lives in and under downed timber and under talus accumulations. Occurrence, however, seems to be partly subterranean and always local; seemingly good habitat frequently appears to lack the animals. Our observations and collections were made in July, August, and September in 1956, 1957, and 1958. Two hundred seventy-seven individuals were taken; these were measured, sexed and examined for breeding status. The food and parasite content of the guts of a few individuals was determined. Thirteen salamanders were kept for varying lengths of time in captivity. The specimens are now stored in collections at New Mexico State University, University of Texas, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas.
Author: Johnston; Richard F., Schad; Gerhard A. Language: English Genre: ReptilesTags: lizards, salamander
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