THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SCIENCE BULLETIN Vol. XLIV] September 13, 1963 [No. 5 Taxonomic and Ecological Notes on the Salamander, Plethodon welleri BY Gordon R. Thurow Department of Anatomy University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas Abstract: The pigmentation of living Plethodon welleri ventromacuUitus and that of additional museum specimens support the distinction between this form and P. w. welleri, but do not add any fundamental differences. Living specimens did not show any special juvenile pigmentation, nor the suggestion of a dorsal band which appears in some preserved specimens. A new locaUty for P. welleri in Unicoi Co., Tennessee, is at the low altitude of 2300-2400 feet. The hemlock-yellow hirch-Rhododendron maximum for-est of this valley locality differs somewhat from previously described habitats, as does another collecting site near the top of Grandfather Mountain. Local weather conditions during different seasons indicate part of the range of con-ditions in which P. welleri appears at the surface under various shelters. Some quantitative data span 8-20° C. substratum temperatures, 22-24M% free water in the substratum, 10)2-15% organic matter index, and 87-95% relative humidity val-ues partly under the shelter object. Similar values were obtained for three P. yonahlossee. An association with talus is compared to one in P. dorsalis. Previously unreported salamander associates of P. welleri are P. glutinosus and P. yonahlossee, Desmognathus monticola and D. quadramaculatus, and Diemic-tylus V. viridescens. Food items from nine P. iceUeri are listed. The items suggest the prelim-inary hypotheses that smaller prey are taken than by larger Plethodon species, that arachnids may form a greater percentage of the diet than in P. cinereus and that more of the food comes from a sub-forest-floor stratum. Males collected in spring and fall contained sperm in the vasa deferentia, indicating breeding activity, but summer males did not. No evidence was found for geographical variation in male secondary sex characters, but their development does vary with the season (being better developed in spring and fall), and with size and age. No seasonal differences were noted in the female material, but the shape and pigmentation of the vent also change with age. Size-frequency groupings suggest a yearling group of 21-23 mm. body length and a second year group of 26-27 mm. and perhaps larger. Data indicate that (87)
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