Help solve a slimy mystery!

[theHandpuppet]

Okay, I wrote to an expert on salamanders and he was as puzzled as me, so I'm taking this to y'all for some suggestions. I'm hoping this mystery may pique the curiosity of some zoologist or biologist out there.

On a recent two-week working visit to my mother's country place in SE Ohio, I was clearing an area of rotting leaves in a forest clearing only to be startled by a large salamander or skink that was none to pleased about having been disturbed. I'm used to seeing critters of all kinds at Mom's place -- wild turkey, deer, woodchuck, fox, all manner of snakes, great horned owls and pileated woodpeckers, plus your assorted turtles, tortoises, toads, frogs, lizards and salamanders -- but I've never seen a critter quite like this one. All I can say it that to me it looked like a large salamander with a dark body and one single, broad, neon blue stripe running the length of its body. It was so darn unusual I couldn't get the thought of it out of my mind. The blue was so bright it looked like a neon sign.

I've checked hundreds of photos of skinks, salamanders and lizards native to the area but can find no match. This area of SE Ohio (Scioto County) is very rural and rugged, heavily forested, and is home to some of the state's rarest creatures. Well this one must be rare all right. If anyone has a clue what this fellow might be could you clue me in?

BTW, anyone who thinks amphibians are on their way out ought to visit my Mom's place. You have to watch where you're walking or you're likely to step on one -- literally.

[Sammy Pepys]

1. An exotic pet someone released into the wild? n/t

...

[theHandpuppet]

13. I doubt it -- not around here.

My mother's place is not on a public road and for someone to drive up next to her house to release their unwanted pet would be weird. This is such a rural area such an effort would be unnecessary.

[MuseRider]

2. Can't help

but you might check field guides from the areas south of hers. We are seeing many new to the area species as they move north. There have been recent articles, just this week as a matter of fact, about a type of Gecko that has taken up residence. Other than that I can't help you.

[MADem]

3. Have you tried these guys (Ohio DNR)?

http://dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/PDF/pub03.pdf

There's contact info in the publication, maybe they would know.

[theHandpuppet]

10. Yep, tried them too

I've pretty much given up that this sucker could be indentified. If only I'd had a camera, but I was busy clearing brush and when I'm working have little time for actually enjoying the wildlife around me. I'm going back in October but I wonder if it will be too cold by then to look for it.

[Bobbieo]

4. Interesting Lizard!!!!!

As I live on the desert I have no idea what it might be. How big is it -a foot long??? I used to see them in MD but they were the normal sized salamanders. I miss the woods!!!!!

[theHandpuppet]

11. The body was appx 6 inches (sans tail) and thick

I couldn't tell you how long it was overall as I didn't get a good look at the full tail.

[benburch]

5. Possibly you have a new species there.

I used to do a lot of wildlife observation, including amphibians and other small creatures in the leaf mould, and I have never heard of one marked like that.

[theHandpuppet]

16. Yep, I'm starting to wonder, too

There are quite a few rare critters in the virgin forests of Scioto County and I do know that five of the six lizard species of Ohio can be found there. So much of that woodland is unexplored it makes me wonder if indeed I have tripped across something entirely new. Methinks there are a few critters still wandering around the Appalachians that haven't introduced themselves to us yet.

[Mabus]

6. Try this site, helps ID lizards, salamanders, etc.

http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?action=go&show_images=on&KEYSdir=Vertebrata/Reptilia/Sauria and be sure to let us know.

[theHandpuppet]

21. Thanks for the great link!

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a match. Damn, this is really going to drive me nuts.

[mzteris]

7. a variation of one of these?

http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=RNWE,RNWE:2005-22,RNWE:en&q=blue+tailed+skink&sa=N&tab=wi


This pic looks like the blue is all along the back, but it could be the angle of the photo:

www.timocharis.com/ photos/liz/px05.jpg

There's also a blue-spotted salamander - maybe it had some weird "spotting"?

[theHandpuppet]

9. Nope, I had already checked those out

The blue was a bright as that of the skink's tail, but this was a broad blue stripe running the length of the dark body. Very weird!

[mzteris]

15. did you see the second pic?

I know it's hard to "get" - you have to copy the whole thing, paste into google, take out the space and then hit search, then images.......

[theHandpuppet]

17. I'm having a hard time with the link

I followed your intructions but still can't seem to get it. Anyone care to help out here?

[benburch]

19. Here...

http://www.timocharis.com.nyud.net:8090/photos/liz/px05.jpg

[theHandpuppet]

22. Didn't work for me, benburch

All I see is a little blue box with a question mark in it.

[benburch]

24. Hit reload.

I sent it through the coral cache. Sometimes you need to reload a time or two to make it work.

[mzteris]

23. this work?

[theHandpuppet]

25. Yes, that worked, thanks!

But no cigar.

This sucker had a thick, dark body and the only marking was a one broad, neon blue stripe running its length. As I said, I've seen most of the more common woodland amphibians, but this one was SO different it startled me. I just haven't been able to get the image out of my brain. I've been around the woodlands all my life but this discovering this critter was akin to encountering an alien. It also had the "slimy" look of a salamander.

[MADem]

20. WIERD!!!

http://www.roundrockjournal.com.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/skink.JPG

[1monster]

8. Did it look like this?

Several of the skinks have blue tails as young but only the Five-lined Skink, Eumeces fasciatus, in our area has this beautiful blue contrasting with the cream and deep brown stripes above. The tail is detachable and I suppose that blue is a lure to keep predators from striking something more critical. It is hard to grab these young guys without them dropping that tail as a wriggling decoy behind them. The adult Five-lineds lose the marked blue color.


or this?




Several of the skinks have blue tails as young but only the Five-lined Skink, Eumeces fasciatus, in our area has this beautiful blue contrasting with the cream and deep brown stripes above. The tail is detachable and I suppose that blue is a lure to keep predators from striking something more critical. It is hard to grab these young guys without them dropping that tail as a wriggling decoy behind them. The adult Five-lineds lose the marked blue color.



A near adult who still has quite a fine blue tail. He was totally relaxed on this log for many photos. Seemed to be basking in one sunstruck spot here at Lorance.


on edit: we have blue striped lizards all over the place in Florida. They have a blue stripe that goes down on both the left and right sides of the body. Sometimes the blue stripe is very intense and can look like one solid blue stripe...

[theHandpuppet]

14. Nope -- but thanks for trying!

I had already checked out the skinks. This whatever-it-is had only one large blue stripe on its body, not its tail.

[1monster]

12. Maybe a Blue Anole?

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Blue+Anole+&btnG=Search

[theHandpuppet]

18. No, but this raises another point

I've seen loads of skinks, salamanders and lizards in my day, including nearly all of the ones native to this area. I'd swear this was NOT a lizard.

[frogmarch]

26. Ohio salamanders

Did you check this website?

http://www.ohioamphibians.com/salamanders/Salamanders.html

Apparently some species change in coloration or markings when they reach adulthood, so even if you don't find a photo that matches the salamander you saw, maybe you will find it by reading the descriptions. Good luck. Fascinating!

[theHandpuppet]

27. I had visited that site... there's one pic that is useful

There is one pic there which might give folks a better idea of what this critter looks like. If you go to the link for "Unisexual Ambystoma Complexes" and can visualize the salamander in the bottom right pic with a big, neon blue streak running along its length, that's the creature I saw.

Edited to add: even this salamander is somewhat lighter in body color than the creature I found, whose body is very dark, almost black.