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Spotted dusky salamander

Desmognathus conanti · Salamanders and newts · Amphibians

Spotted dusky salamander (Desmognathus conanti): Moderately stout body with a moderately keeled tail, 6.4-12.7 cm total length. Usually 6-8 pairs of golden spots on the back, which in adults may fuse into a light stripe with a dark, irregular border. 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 conanti
Family
Plethodontidae
In North America
Native
Range
Lowland drainages east of the Mississippi River, from extreme southern Illinois and southwestern Kentucky to east-central Tennessee and northwest Georgia, south to the Florida Panhandle and west through Alabama and Louisiana. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Moderately stout body with a moderately keeled tail, 6.4-12.7 cm total length. [1][2]

Usually 6-8 pairs of golden spots on the back, which in adults may fuse into a light stripe with a dark, irregular border. [1][2]

Belly light with dark flecks. [1][2]

Wash of whitish or bluish speckling across sides and tail and no light-coloured 'portholes' on the flanks, separating it from several sympatric Desmognathus. [1][2]

Nearly identical to northern dusky salamander; best told apart by range. [1][2]

Compared with the northern dusky salamander: Very similar; best separated by range (northern dusky is the northeastern species). [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a spotted dusky salamander before you act. Compared with the northern dusky salamander: Very similar; best separated by range (northern dusky is the northeastern species).[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Floodplains, sloughs and mucky sites along upland streams to about 900 m, usually near running or trickling water. [1][2]

Abundant in and near cool streams and small rivers in the Piedmont and lower mountains of SC and GA. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Takes refuge under logs, rocks and leaf litter by day and moves on stream banks at night. [1][2]

Feeds opportunistically on small invertebrates, mostly terrestrial insects; may be active by day in dark, wet weather. [1][2]

Females brood up to 35 eggs under moss or rocks from mid-June through August. [1][2]

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

Lowland drainages east of the Mississippi River, from extreme southern Illinois and southwestern Kentucky to east-central Tennessee and northwest Georgia, south to the Florida Panhandle and west through Alabama and Louisiana. Not in Canada.

Biology

Sources

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

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia