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In Local Woods, a Rare Find

By Jennifer Smith | Staff Writer

June 1, 2003

Jeremy Feinberg searched a secluded red maple bog in Brookhaven for 10 days this spring before hitting the jackpot. His prize? Two female four-toed salamanders and their egg masses.

Thinner than a pencil and measuring 2 to 4 inches long when grown, these lungless amphibians are the smallest salamanders in New York State.

They spend most of their lives buried in moss or forest debris, making them something of a prize for herpetologists such as Feinberg, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

The pair Feinberg spotted with their eggs on April 28 were the first he'd ever seen.

Four-toed salamanders look similar to the common red-backed salamander but sport four toes on their hind legs instead of five, white bellies speckled with black, and a slight constriction at the base of their tail, which they can detach to confuse predators.

Though not on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's list of species of special concern, the four-toed salamander has become increasingly rare on Long Island as development erodes its favored habitat: backwood marshes sheltered by canopies of mature trees.

"One of the most common areas for them historically was Jamaica, Queens, out in the sedge marshes which sadly, no longer exist,ý Feinberg said. More recently they have been sighted in Smithtown, Montauk Point and Gardiners Bay.

Adults live on land but remain close to the water for breeding. After mating in the fall or early winter, the female lays eggs in a tussock of moss just above the water line. The young hatch 52 to 62 days later, then "actually fall into the water and enter the larval stage,ý Feinberg said.

Some larvae emerge with all four-toes fully formed. Offspring from the eggs Feinberg found should emerge from the pond as juveniles in early summer. They'll then take up residence in the surrounding forest until they become sexually mature.