Dwarf Two-Lined Salamander
Eurycea quadridigitata

Jasper Co., South Carolina. March 12, 1999.
 

"What the heck is it?" was the question when this small sally was found under some debris in a roadside trash heap.  The Slimy Salamander we found a bit earlier was an easy one, but most of these eastern species had us at sea.  Conant's Field Guide was consulted.  The two dark dorsolateral stripes indicated some sort of Twolined Salamander, and a count of four tiny toes on the hind feet confirmed it as a Dwarf Twolined Salamander (most other sallies have five toes on the hind foot).

This little creature inhabits the mud and muck from below the Fall Line to the coast, and from North Carolina to east Texas.