The D.C. Council is considering a bill to designate the red-backed salamander, also known as Plethodon cinereus, as the “official state amphibian of the District of Columbia.”
The D.C. Council is considering a bill to designate the red-backed salamander, also known as Plethodon cinereus, as the “official state amphibian of the District of Columbia.”
Powell Elementary School students who studied the red-backed salamander proposed that the D.C. Council designate the animal as the city’s official amphibian because of its red stripes that reflect the city’s flag.
If the bill becomes law, the state’s official amphibian would take its place alongside other official D.C. symbols, such as the thrush, scarlet oak, and cherry tree.
The red-backed salamander is most commonly found in city forests, including Rock Creek Park. They are the most abundant vertebrates in the forests of the eastern United States, even more than deer.
“They are a small animal, typically four inches long, long tail, four legs, moist skin,” said Addison Wynn, museum technician on the collections management staff at the Smithsonian’s Museum Support Center in Suitland.
Wynn’s area of expertise is salamanders, particularly eastern North American salamanders such as red-backed salamanders.
The Museum Support Center is the research and collections center of the Smithsonian Institution. The facility houses more than 31 million objects.
“The red-backed salamander is the most common salamander in the area…in the eastern United States. In suitable habitat there are up to 1,000 or more per acre,” Wynn said.
The slimy creatures are a bit elusive and not that easy to see, although there are a lot of them. This is because they do not remain exposed to sunlight, unlike lizards.
“They normally live underground. They are very secretive and only come to the surface at night. And even then, in specialized conditions. They surface less at night when there is a full moon, for example, because the moonlight would allow predators to see them more. … They just live secret lives underground and rarely come to the surface,” Wynn said.
Passage of the bill would also bring “Amphibian Week” to May 5-11, encouraging D.C. residents to go out and “deliver a fallen log and look for a red-backed salamander.”
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