THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  

Northern Seal Salamander
Desmognathus monticola Dunn, 1916
DEZ-moh-NAY-thus — mon-tih-KOH-lah

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 The committee assigns a newly suggested Standard English Name for this species to differentiate it from the recently described D. cheaha. (Pyron, R. Alexander, Christopher K. Beachy, David A. Beamer, and Kenneth M. Kozak. 2025. Caudata – Salamanders. Pages 10-21 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.08.30.08.35.45)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.55 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Alabama Florida Georgia Kentucky Maryland North Carolina Pennsylvania South Carolina Tennessee Virginia West Virginia

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its montane distribution.
Desmognathus — Greek desmos = “ligament” + gnathos = “jaw”
monticola — Latin mons = “mountain” + -cola = “dweller”; “Mountain-dweller”

First instance(s) of published English names:
Seal Salamander (Desmognathus monticola: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Blue Ridge Seal Salamander (Desmognathus monticola jeffersoni: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Seal Salamander (Desmognathus monticola monticola: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Virginia Seal Salamander (Desmognathus monticola jeffersoni: 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); Appalachian Seal Salamander (Desmognathus monticola monticola: 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);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1916 Dunn, Emmert R. Two new salamanders of the genus Desmognathus. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 29:73–76
1968 Shontz, Nancy Nickerson. Electrophoretic patterns of proteins of salamanders of the genus Desmognathus (Family Plethodontidae). Copeia 1968(4):683-692
1990 Bruce, Richard C. and Nelson G. Hairston. Life-history correlates of body-size differences between two populations of salamander, Desmognathus monticola. Journal of Herpetology 24(2):124-134
1993 Arnold, Steven J., Nancy L. Reagan, and Paul A. Verrell. Reproductive isolation and speciation in plethodontid salamanders. Herpetologica 49(2):216-228
1996 Titus, Tom A. and Allan Larson. Molecular phylogenetics of Desmognathine salamanders (Caudata: Plethodontidae): A reevaluation of evolution in ecology, life history, and morphology. Systematic Biology 45(4):451-472
2008 Tilley, Stephen G., Renee L. Eriksen, and Laura A. Katz. Systematics of dusky salamanders, Desmognathus (Caudata: Plethodontidae), in the mountain and Piedmont regions of Virginia and North Carolina, USA. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 152:115-130
2010 Kozak, Kenneth H. and John J. Wiens. Accelerated rates of climatic-niche evolution underlie rapid species diversification. Ecology Letters 13:1378-1389
2020 Regester, K. J., C. G. Hoffman, E. R. Patterson, and P. C. Timashenka. Desmognathus monticola Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (925):60
2023 Pyron, R. Alexander and David A. Beamer A systematic revision of the Shovel-nosed Salamander (Plethodontidae: Desmognathus marmoratus), with re-description of the related D. aureatus and D. intermedius. Zootaxa 5270(2):262-280

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 16:57 CT