Desmognathus aeneus in Tennessee 97 



Table 1. Values of 3 habitat variables for 55 D. aeneus in the Citico Creek 

 watershed, Monroe Co., Tennessee. Values in parentheses represent 

 percentages of salamanders found in each habitat category. 



Cover 



type 



Substrate type 





Distance from 

 water (meters) 



Leaf litter 



22(40.0) 



Leaf-soil interface 



22(40.0) 



0-5 33(60.0) 



Moss 



16(29.1) 



Rock-soil interface 



2( 3.6) 



6-10 10(18.2) 



Log 



11(20.0) 



Leaf litter 



6(10.9) 



11-20 8(14.5) 



Rock 



6(10.9) 



Log 

 Soil 

 Rock 



9(16.4) 



10(18.2) 



6(10.9) 



>20 4( 7.3) 



rounding woodland, since almost 22 percent occurred farther than 10 m 

 from open water. Hairston (1973) also found D. aeneus in relatively 

 terrestrial situations in the Nantahala Mountains of North Carolina. 

 Both mosses and small logs were frequently used as cover objects, but I 

 found most salamanders beneath leaf litter at the leaf-soil interface 

 (Table 1). Canopy cover at the point of capture for the 55 specimens 

 ranged from 60 to 90 percent (x = 78.4%). In the Citico Creek watershed, 

 the species seems to especially favor areas with heavy growths of Rho- 

 dodendron maxium. The habitat requirements for D. aeneus in this area 

 are most similar to those of Eurycea bislineata (unpubl. data), although 

 D. aeneus also shares its habitat to some extent with Desmognathus 

 ochrophaeus Cope, D. fuscus (Rafinesque), D. monticola Dunn, and 

 Plethodon glutinosus (Green). 



Diet 



Donovan and Folkerts (1972) reported that the stomach contents 

 of D. aeneus from Alabama and Georgia consisted primarily of arthro- 

 pods. Insects (collembolan and dipteran larvae) and arachnids (primar- 

 ily mites) were the two most frequently ingested prey types. I also found 

 arthropods to be the most common prey items in the stomachs of 47 D. 

 aeneus from the Citico Creek watershed, Monroe County (Table 2). 

 This group comprised slightly over 95 percent of the prey items ingested 

 and was found in almost 96 percent of the stomachs. The most fre- 

 quently ingested arthropods were mites, representing about 58 percent 

 of the total prey items and found in almost 79 percent of the stomachs. 

 Insects, primarily collembolans, were found in almost 62 percent of the 

 stomachs but made up only 30 percent of all prey items ingested. The 

 composition of prey found in the stomachs suggests that D. aeneus does 



