One-toed amphiuma

The southeastern two-toed amphiuma and its more westerly three-toed relative were no strangers to me. But it was not for more than three decades after Wilfred T. Neill found and described the one-toed amphiuma, Amphiuma pholeter, in 1950 that I became acquainted with the little salamander.

In fact, it was not until researcher Paul Moler took a bit of time to describe the habitat of this third species that I finally succeeded in finding a few. It was, it turned out, a mud dweller, but rather being an inhabitant of mud-bottomed ponds and ditches as reported in most mentions, the one-toed amphiuma dwelt in the soupy mud of creek side and swampy seepeages. Small wonder my earlier searches had been futile.

Unlike the two and the three-toed amphiumas, both of which attain adult lengths of about 3 feet, the average size of the one-toed amphiuma is between 9 and 12 inches long. It is very slender; has reduced, lidless, eyes; and its legs, each bearing a single digit, are comparatively tiny. What a wonderfully adapted caudatan.

More photos under the jump...

One-toed amphiuma; note the tiny limb and lidless eyes: An adult one-toed amphiuma:

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.