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Photo © A.B. Sheldon
Four-toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum), a Special Concern species, prefers northern and southern hardwood forests and to a lesser degree, conifer swamps. It overwinters from November through late March by burrowing underground to avoid freezing. Mating can occur in fall or spring at breeding ponds, seepage pools or springs. In April, females move to microhabitats of dense, usually sphagnum, mosses overhanging the water's edge or dense mosses on downed woody debris overlying the water. Four-toed salamanders will also nest in inundated sedge tussock wetlands when mosses are not present. This species' unique nesting microhabitats appear to limit their abundance. Females remain with their eggs until hatching. Eggs hatch in late May or June and larvae drop into the water where they live until transforming in about six weeks. Four-toed salamanders remain active through November.
The table below provides information about the protected status - both state and federal - and the rank (S and G Ranks) for Four-toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum). See the Working List Key for more information about abbreviations. Counties shaded blue have documented occurrences for this species in the Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory database. The map is provided as a general reference of where occurrences of this species meet NHI data standards and is not meant as a comprehensive map of all observations.
Note: Species recently added to the NHI Working List may temporarily have blank occurrence maps.
| Summary Information | |
|---|---|
| State Status | SC/H |
| Federal Status in Wisconsin | none |
| State Rank | S3? |
| Global Rank | G5 |
| Tracked by NHI | Y |
| WWAP | SGCN |
A guidance document is not available at this time. Use the information from the other tabs and contact local biologists, as needed, to develop management and avoidance strategies.
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Four-toed Salamander
Photo © A.B. Sheldon.
Four-toed Salamander
Photo © A.B. Sheldon.
Four-toed Salamander
Photo © A.B. Sheldon.
Photo © A.B. Sheldon.
Four-toed Salamander eggs
Photo © A.B. Sheldon.
The table below lists the natural communities that are associated with Four-toed Salamander. Only natural communities for which Four-toed Salamander is "high" (score=3) or "moderate" (score=2) associated are shown. See the key to association scores for complete definitions. Please see the Wildlife Action Plan to learn how this information was developed.
The table below lists the ecological landscape association scores for Four-toed Salamander. The scores correspond to the map (3=High, 2=Moderate, 1=Low, 0=None). For more information, please see the Wildlife Action Plan.
Ecological priorities are the combinations of natural communities and ecological landscapes that provide Wisconsin's best opportunities to conserve important habitats for a given Species of Greatest Conservation Need. The 10 highest scoring combinations are considered ecological priorities and are listed below. More than 10 combinations are listed if multiple combinations tied for 10th place. For more information, please see the Wildlife Action Plan.
* Ecological priority score is a relative measure that is not meant for comparison between species. This score does not consider socio-economical factors that may dictate protection and/or management priorities differently than those determined solely by ecological analysis. Further, a low ecological priority score does not imply that management or preservation should not occur on a site if there are important reasons for doing so locally.
Conservation actions respond to issues or threats, which adversely affect species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) or their habitats. Besides actions such as restoring wetlands or planting resilient tree species in northern communities, research, surveys and monitoring are also among conservation actions described in the WWAP because lack of information can threaten our ability to successfully preserve and care for natural resources.