Ringed Salamander

Taxobox
name = Ringed Salamander
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1
trend = stable
regnum = Animalia
divisio = Chordata
classis = Lissamphibia
ordo = Caudata
familia = Ambystomatidae
genus = "Ambystoma"
species = "A. annulatum"
binomial = "Ambystoma annulatum"
binomial_authority = Cope, 1886

The ringed salamander ("Ambystoma annulatum") is native to hardwood and mixed hardwood-pine forested areas in and around the Ozark Plateau and Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri (Petranka 1998). Most specimens are found in the vicinity of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and the Missouri portion of the Ozark Plateau (Bishop 1962; Johnson 1977). Small populations have also been found in western Illinois and eastern Oklahoma (Petranka 1998).

It is found in damp forested areas, usually under leaves, rotting logs, or in abandoned ground holes of other organisms, near shallow ponds. Highly fossorial (adapted to digging), adults are often found in subterranean refuges (Petranka 1998).

This salamander is increasingly rare and perhaps endangered, likely a result of its restricted range and specific breeding habit needs (Petranka 1998).

The world population is thought to be around 100,000 animals. Its conservation status has not been evaluated by the IUCN.

References

* Database entry includes a range map and a brief justification of why this species is of least concern.
* [http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/rangemap.php?species=59052 IUCN Range
]