Exciting finds in Dixie!

On 3-31-11 we took a field trip to Dixie Plantation. Here we retrieved a few turtle traps from a freshwater pond which contained several yellow bellied sliders (Trachemys scripta) of both sexes and one snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina). The sex of the yellow bellied sliders can be determined by the length of their claws. Males typically have much longer claws than females that they use to “stroke” her face during courtship. In the picture you can see that the snapping turtle’s plastron is very small, an indication that it lives on the pond floor. A hole in its tongue can be seen, but the purpose of this I do not know. Upon research I found that snapping turtles have a worm-like feature on their tongue for catching prey, so that may be what this is. This turtle was obviously not a juvenile with a plastron width of a little over a foot.
Later in the field trip we visited a swamp on the other side of Dixie Plantation. In the minnow traps here we caught many marbled salamander larvae (Ambystoma opacum). These larvae are aquatic and when they metamorphose they turn into terrestrial adults. One major identifying feature of the marbled salamander larvae is their two rows of light dots: one ventrally and one dorsally.
On the other side of the dike in an adjacent swamp, I pulled up a minnow trap and to my surprise I saw what appeared to be a snake! Then I realized its head and skid did not resemble a reptile’s at all. Excited, I hurried up the bank and opened the trap to discover a two-toed amphiuma (Amphiuma means), the only amphiuma species in the area. We identified this by observing four tiny feet each with two little toes, and no external gills were present. Dr. Welch was particularly excited, because this was the first time she (or us for that matter) had seen a live amphiuma in the field. Based on pure observation I would guess that it was just over a foot long: not big by any means but definitely an adult. We also know it is an adult based on its lack of external gills which are present in larvae before metamorphosis. (Logan Bryan, SC)