North GroundHuntNorth Ground Hunt — return to North Ground
Species authority page

Southern dusky salamander

Desmognathus auriculatus · Salamanders and newts · Amphibians

Southern dusky salamander (Desmognathus auriculatus): Brown to black salamander up to about 6.5 in, usually with one or two rows of white side spots. Belly gray-brown to black with small white speckles. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Desmognathus auriculatus
Family
Plethodontidae
In North America
Native
Range
Atlantic and Gulf coastal plain: Virginia (to mid Mecklenburg County) and the North Carolina coastal plain per state agencies; NatureServe's narrower concept lists only Alabama and Florida. Not recorded for Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Brown to black salamander up to about 6.5 in, usually with one or two rows of white side spots. [1][2][3]

Belly gray-brown to black with small white speckles. [1][2][3]

Laterally compressed tail sharpening toward the tip; a light stripe runs from each eye back to the base of the jaw, as in all dusky salamanders. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Mucky areas near springs, swamps, cypress heads, mud-bottomed streams, floodplain pools and ravines with organic debris, usually in or near slow water; leaf-litter packs along slow mucky streams in Virginia. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Nocturnal; hides by day under leaves, logs or debris or in burrows. [1][2][3]

Opportunistic feeder on arthropods, worms and other invertebrates; Virginia DWR notes cannibalism. [1][2][3]

Breeds September-October, 9-20 eggs guarded by the female until fall hatching; larvae are aquatic with external gills and metamorphose the following spring. [1][2][3]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Atlantic and Gulf coastal plain: Virginia (to mid Mecklenburg County) and the North Carolina coastal plain per state agencies; NatureServe's narrower concept lists only Alabama and Florida. Not recorded for Canada.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources

  3. North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission · reviewed 2026-09-30

    North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission