Blue ridge dusky salamander
Desmognathus orestes
 
ITIS Species Code:   550245         NatureServ Element Code:   AAAAD03150
 
Taxa: 
Order: 
Family: 
Amphibia
Caudata
Plethodontidae
NatureServe Global Rank: 
NatureServe State (NC) Rank: 
 
G2
S?
 
Federal Status: 
NC State Status: 
 
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HEXAGONAL KNOWN RANGE:PREDICTED DISTRIBUTION:
 
SUMMARY OF STATEWIDE PREDICTED DISTRIBUTION:
 
Land Unit
US Fish & Wildlife Service
US Forest Service
US National Park Service
US Department of Defense
NC State Parks
NC University System
NC Wildlife Res. Com.
NC Forest Service
NC Div. of Coastal Mgmt.
Local Governments
Non-Governmental Org.
Other Public Lands
Private Lands
GAP Status 1-2
All Protected Lands
Statewide
 
Hectares
0.00
5,200.74
0.00
744.03
359.37
14.49
398.70
29.79
0.00
0.00
725.04
1.26
23,812.92
2,364.39
7,469.37
31,286.34
 
Acres
0.00
12,851.31
0.00
1,838.54
888.02
35.81
985.21
73.61
0.00
0.00
1,791.61
3.11
58,843.00
5,842.53
18,457.21
77,310.21
% of Dist. on
Prot. Lands
0.0 %
69.6 %
0.0 %
10.0 %
4.8 %
0.2 %
5.3 %
0.4 %
0.0 %
9.7 %
9.7 %
0.0 %
0.0 %
31.7 %
-----   
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% of Dist. on
All Lands
0.0 %
16.6 %
0.0 %
2.4 %
1.1 %
< 0.1 %
1.3 %
< 0.1 %
0.0 %
0.0 %
2.3 %
< 0.1 %
76.1 %
7.6 %
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HABITAT DESCRIPTION:
This species is confined to mountainous forested habitats at the most northerly portion of the southern Appalachians in Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia (Petranka 1998). Within its range, the salamander occurs on mountain peaks, but lower elevational limits are not well defined.

It inhabits wet rockfaces, seepage areas and the forest floor in and around the headwaters of mountain streams (Petranka 1998).

NATURE SERVE GLOBAL HABITAT COMMENTS:

At lower elevations and in winter usually concentrates near seepage areas, springs, and small streams; may range into adjacent wooded areas in wet weather. More terrestrial at higher elevations, characteristic inhabitant of floor of spruce- fir forests. Often abundant on wet rock faces. Eggs are laid in wet rock crevices or under rocks, logs, or moss in seepage areas or near small streams.

 
MODELING DESCRIPTION:
Occupied Landcover Map Units:
Code NameDescription NC Natural Heritage Program Equivalent
517 Hemlock Floodplain Forest Alluvial forest with hemlock and/or white pine in mountains and western piedmont. Hydrology is generally temporarily to seasonally flooded. Canada Hemlock Forest
521 Spruce/Fir Forest High Elevation Frazer-Fir - Red Spruce, Red Spruce and Red-Spruce-Yellow Birch Forests. Tree densities included here include both woodland to forest density. Highly intermixed with Northern Hardwoods, Grassy Balds, and Shrub Balds. Red Spruce--Fraser Fir Forest, Fraser Fir Forest
522 Northern Hardwoods High Elevation forests including yellow birch, American beech, and yellow buckeye. Includes forests with Hemlock and Yellow Birch. Northern Hardwoods Forest, Boulderfield Forest
525 Appalachian Oak Forest A variety of oak forest types including Black, White, Scarlet Oaks in dry to mesic situations. Includes forests historically co-dominated by American Chestnut. High Elevation Red Oak Forest, Montane White Oak Forest
526 Appalachian Cove Forest Mixed Mesophytic forests of the mountains. Includes tuliptree, basswood, yellow buckeye and surgar maple. This class is mapped to include cove forests dominated or co-dominated by hemlock. Rich Cove Forest, Acidic Cove Forest
527 Appalachian Hemlock Upland hemlock forests of the moutains region. Vary from side slopes to steep slope positions. Canada Hemlock Forest
533 Appalachian Swamp Forest Evergreen and deciduous forests with saturated hydrologies. This class may contain a variety of trees species, including hemlock - red maple, pitch pine, and white pine forests. Swamp Forest-Bog Complex, Southern Appalachian Bog, Southern Appalachian Fen
534 Appalachian Wet Shrubland/ Herbaceous Saturated shrubs and herbaceous vegetation. Often mapped as an inclusion in Appalachian Swamp Forest. Southern Appalachian Bog, Southern Appalachian Fen
View Entire Landcover Legend
 
Additional Spatial Constraints:
Exclude all area outside of known range.
Below 4,500 feet, exclude all land greater than 50 meters from an open water feature.
 
CITATIONS:
Petranka, J. W. 1998. Salamanders of the United States and Canada. Washington DC: Smithsonian Inst. Press.
10 March 2005
 
This data was compiled and/or developed by the North Carolina GAP Analysis Project.

For more information please contact them at:
NC-GAP Analysis Project
Dept. of Zoology, NCSU
Campus Box 7617
Raleigh, NC 27695-7617
(919) 513-2853
www.basic.ncsu.edu/ncgap