Researchers from the University of Tennessee (UT) at Knoxville have discovered the largest individual cave salamander found in North America, in the guise of a 23.6cm (9.3in) specimen of the Berry Cave salamander."The record represents the largest individual within the genus Gyrinophilus, the largest body size of any cave-obligate salamander and the largest salamander within the Plethodontidae family in the United States," says Nicholas Gladstone, a graduate student in UT’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, who made the discovery.
A juvenile Berry Cave salamander (Gyrinophilus gulolineatus). Related to the Tennessee cave salamander (G. palleucus), it nevertheless grows to a larger size, has a broader head and displays more pigmentation.
Photo courtesy Matthew L Niemiller
/www.shutterstock.com Salamanders can be found in a variety of habitats across Tennessee. Some species have adapted to live in cave environments, which are thought of as extreme and inhospitable ecosystems due to the absence of light and limited resources.