Nest and Larvae of the Neuse River Waterdog, Necturus 

 lewisi (Brimley) (Amphibia: Proteidae) 



Ray E. Ashton, Jr. 



and 

 Alvin L. Braswell 



North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, 

 P.O. Box 27647, Raleigh, North Carolina 27611 



ABSTRACT. — The first reported nest and hatchling larvae of Necturus 

 lewisi were found in Little River (Neuse River drainage), Wake County, 

 North Carolina, on 2 July 1978. Finding an adult male tagged for 

 behavioral studies with 60 Co wires led to their discovery. The nest was 

 under a flat, granite rock in 1.2 m of water at mid-river. Thirty-two 

 empty egg capsules, and three containing larvae which shortly emerged, 

 were attached to the underside of the rock. The male, found in a depres- 

 sion in the sand-gravel substrate directly beneath the eggs, was 

 apparently in attendance. Autopsy revealed that the male was in good 

 condition with an empty digestive tract. The presence of females of other 

 Necturus species in or near nests has been reported, but no males have 

 previously been verified in this situation. The hatchling larvae of N. 

 lewisi and N. maculosus are alike in color and pattern. However, post- 

 hatchling larvae of N. lewisi have a light mid-dorsum and dark sides, 

 while those of N. maculosus, as figured and described in the literature, 

 have a dark dorsum bordered on each side by a thin, light, dorsolateral 

 line. Necturus punctatus larvae are uniformly gray dorsally and lack strip- 

 ing. The distinctive post-hatchling larva of TV. lewisi lends added 

 credence to its current recognition as a full species. 



INTRODUCTION 



Necturus lewisi is a species of waterdog endemic to the Tar and Neuse 

 River drainages of North Carolina. Only one field study of this salaman- 

 der has been conducted (Fedak 1971). No accounts have been published 

 of its life history, and no descriptions of nesting, courtship and reproduc- 

 tion, or illustrations of larvae, have appeared. Adults and larvae are 

 described in Bishop (1926, 1943), Brimley (1924), Cahn and Shumway 

 (1926), Viosca (1937), and Hecht (1958), but the larva descriptions are 

 varied and contradictory. This paper describes the first discovered nest 

 and provides the first accurate descriptions and illustrations of TV. lewisi 

 hatchlings and older larvae. 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



In November 1 977 we began a preliminary study of N. lewisi in the Lit- 

 tle River, a tributary of the Neuse River in northeastern Wake County. 



Brimleyana No. 1: 15-22. March 1979. 15 



