THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Caudata    Ambystomatidae  

Blue-spotted Salamander
Ambystoma laterale Hallowell, 1856

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 See comment under A. jeffersonianum.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.07.23.59.00)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.64 MB

Province/State Distribution:
Canada: Labrador Manitoba New Brunswick Nova Scotia Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec
USA: Connecticut Illinois Indiana Iowa Maine Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota New Hampshire New Jersey New York Ohio Pennsylvania Vermont Wisconsin

First instance(s) of published English names:
Lateral Salamander (Amblystoma jeffersonianum laterale: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Slender Salamaner (Amblystoma jeffersonianum platineum: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Jefferson's Salamander (Amblystoma jeffersonianum laterale: Davis, N. S., and Frank L. Rice. 1883. List of Batrachia and Reptilia of Illinois. Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 1(3):25–32); Jefferson's Salamander (Ambystoma jeffersonianum: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Blue-spotted Salamander (Ambystoma laterale: Conant, Roger, Fred R. Cagle, Coleman J. Goin, Charles H. Lowe, Wilfred T. Neill, M. Graham Netting, Karl P. Schmidt, Charles E. Shaw, Robert C. Stebbins, and Charles M. Bogert. 1956. Common names for North American amphibians and reptiles. Copeia 1956(3):172-185); Tremblay's Salamander (Ambystoma tremblayi: Collins, Joseph T., James E. Huheey, James L. Knight, and Hobart M. Smith. 1978. Standard common and current scientific names for North American amphibians and reptiles. Herpetological Circulars (7):36);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
Amphibian Species of the World
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1856 Hallowell, Edward. Notes on the reptiles in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philad'a. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 8:221-238
1954 Minton, Sherman A., Jr. Salamanders of the Ambystoma jeffersonianum complex in Indiana. Herpetologica 10:173-179
1958 Tihen, Joseph A. Comments on the osteology and phylogeny of ambystomatid salamanders. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 3(1):1-50
1964 Uzzell, Thomas M., Jr. Relations of the diploid and triploid species of the Ambystoma jeffersonianum complex (Amphibia, Caudata). Copeia 1964(2):257-300
1967 Uzzell, Thomas Ambystoma jeffersonianum. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (47):1-2
1967 Uzzell, Thomas Ambystoma laterale. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (48):1-2
1967 Uzzell, Thomas. Ambystoma platineum. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (49):1-2
1967 Uzzell, Thomas. Ambystoma tremblayi. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (50):1-2
1969 Tihen, Joseph A. Ambystoma. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (75):1-4
1992 Lowcock, Leslie A., Hugh Griffith, and Robert W. Murphy. Size in relation to sex, hybridity, ploidy, and breeding dynamics in central Ontario populations of the Ambystoma laterale-jeffersonianum complex. Journal of Herpetology 26:46-53
1997 Bogart, James P. and Michael W. Klemens. Hybrids and genetic interactions of Mole Salamanders (Ambystoma jeffersonianum and A. laterale) (Amphibia: Caudata) in New York and New England. American Museum Novitates (3218):1-78
1997 Phillips, Christopher A., Thomas Uzzell, Christina M. Spolsky, Jeanne M. Serb, Robert E. Szafoni, and Timothy R. Pollowy. Persistent high levels of tetraploidy in salamander of the Ambystoma jeffersonianum complex. Journal of Herpetology 31(4):530-535
2019 Bogart, J. P. Unisexual salamanders of the genus Ambystoma. Herpetologica 75(4):259–267

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 19 May 2025 19:23 CT