COSSARO Candidate Species at Risk Evaluation Form for Spring

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COSSARO Candidate Species at Risk Evaluation Form

for

Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus)

Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO)

Assessed June 2010 by COSSARO as Extirpated

June 2010

Final

PART 1

COSSARO Candidate Species at Risk Evaluation Form – June 2010

Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus)

Current Designations: GRANK – G5 (NatureServe 2010) NRANK Canada – N2 (NatureServe 2010) COSEWIC – Special Concern (May 2002) SARA – Special Concern, Schedule 1 General Status Canada – Sensitive (2005) ESA 2007 – Extirpated (assessed by COSSARO in Nov. 2001; Oldham 2001) SRANK – SX (NatureServe 2010) General Status Ontario – Extirpated (2005)

Distribution and Status Outside Ontario: The Spring Salamander is a widespread species in eastern North America, south to Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. It is of conservation concern in some peripheral jurisdictions (MS, RI – S1; CT – S2; ME, MA, QC – S3) but is secure in the central part of its range. Elsewhere in Canada it is known only from southern Quebec, where it is rare (S3).

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Native Status Yes Known with certainty in Ontario only from an 1877 specimen from the Niagara Peninsula (which has been examined and confirmed as correctly identified by Francis Cook, pers. comm. 2009). Although the specimen is old and the locality data vague it seems reasonable to conclude that it was probably collected from a native population since suitable habitat did and may still exist in the area, the species is or was known from nearby on the New York side of the Niagara River (e.g. several records near Buffalo, Bishop 1941), the distribution pattern fits other similar stream salamander species e.g. Northern Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus fuscus) and Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus ochrophaeus), and the species has been accepted as a component of the Ontario fauna in a variety of herpetological treatments (e.g. Dunn 1926, Brandon 1966, Logier and Toner 1961, Cook 1977, 1984, Weller and Green 1997). Spring Salamander has not been seen since in the province despite numerous searches of suitable stream habitat in the Niagara area and presumed extirpated. Most recently the Niagara Natural Areas Inventory (NAI) project compiled information on 14,770 amphibian and reptile records from the Niagara Region, including 8,708 records collected between 2006 and 2008 (Yagi et al. 2009). No Spring Salamanders were located and Yagi et al. (2009) concluded that the species was extirpated from Niagara.

There is also a correctly identified larval specimen in the Canadian Museum of Nature labeled as from Britannia Creek (Ottawa) in 1934, however the locality information is considered suspect (Francis Cook, pers. comm. 2009).

Taxonomic Distinctness Yes Considered a valid species in all recent taxonomic treatments. The subspecies occurring in Ontario and Quebec is the Northern Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus porphyriticus).

Designatable Units There is a single valid Ontario record so no need to consider designatable units.

PRIORITY-SETTING CRITERIA

Recent Arrival No The sole Ontario record is from 1877.

Non-resident No

CRITERIA FOR EXTIRPATED STATUS

COSSARO’s (1998) criteria indicate that a species will be a candidate for Extirpated status “in cases where there have been no confirmed reports or sightings in the past 40 years or 3 generations, whichever is less, despite repeated searches by knowledgeable observers at historical occurrence sites or at other sites where the species might be expected to occur”. The only accepted provincial record was in 1877 from the Niagara area, a region that has changed dramatically since then. Many naturalists, biologists, and amateur herpetologists have unsuccessfully searched streams in the Niagara region for this species. Spring Salamander meets COSSARO’s criteria for Extirpated status.

SUMMARY

The Spring Salamander is reliably known in Ontario only from an old (1877) specimen record from the Niagara River area. Repeated searches by people knowledgeable on the species and its habitat have not rediscovered it anywhere in Ontario, and it is reasonable to assume that the species has been Extirpated from Ontario.

2 Information Sources

Bishop, S.C. 1941. The Salamanders of New York. New York State Museum Bulletin No. 324.

Brandon, R.A. 1966. Systematics of the salamander genus Gryrinophilus. Illinois Biological Monographs 35: 1-86.

Cook, F.R. 1977. Review of the Canadian herpetological scene. Pages 117-121 in “Proceedings of the Symposium on Canada's Threatened Species and Habitats”. Edited by T. Mosquin and C. Suchal. Canadian Nature Federation Special Publication 6.

Cook, F.R. 1984. Introduction to Canadian amphibians and reptiles. National Museum of Natural Sciences, National Museums of Canada.

COSEWIC. 2006. COSEWIC's Assessment Process and Criteria. Reviewed and approved by COSEWIC in April 2006. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. 15 pp.

COSEWIC. 2010. Update COSEWIC Status Report on Spring Salamander Gyrinophilus porphyriticus. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, Ottawa. Six-month Interim Status Report. 58 pp.

COSSARO. 1998. Categories and Criteria for Status Assessment Committee on the Status of Species At Risk in Ontario. Unpublished document, February 1998. 9 pp. (downloaded from COSSARO Extranet site, May 2010)

Dunn, E.R. 1926. The salamanders of the family Plethodontidae. Smith College 50th anniversary Publication, Northampton, Massachusetts. viii + 441 pp.

Logier, E.B.S., and G.C. Toner. 1961. Check list of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Canada and Alaska. Contributions of the Royal Ontario Museum 53.

NatureServe. 2010. NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. Version 7.1. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available http://www.natureserve.org/explorer (Accessed: May 28, 2010).

Oldham, M.J. 2001. COSSARO Candidate V, T, E Species Evaluation Form for Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus). Committee on the Status of Species At Risk in Ontario. 4 pp.

Weller, W.F., and D.M. Green. 1997. Checklist and current status of Canadian amphibians. Pp. 309-328, in “Amphibians in Decline: Canadian Studies of a Global Problem” (D.M. Green, editor). Herpetological Conservation 1. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.

Wild Species, 2005. General Status Search Tool. [http://www.wildspecies.ca/wildspecies2005/search.cfm?lang=e&sec=9]. (Accessed May 28, 2010).

Yagi, A.R, A. Brant, and R.Tervo. 2009. Niagara Region Natural Areas Inventory Reptile and Amphibian Study 2006 to 2008. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Land Care Niagara unpublished report for the Natural Areas Inventory prepared for the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority 78 pp. (available at http://www.npca.ca/)

PART 2

Ontario Evaluation Using COSEWIC Criteria for Extinction/Extirpation

COSEWIC uses the following guidelines for determining Extinct or Extirpated status:

“A species may be assessed as extinct or extirpated from Canada if: • there exists no remaining habitat for the species and there have been no records of the species despite recent surveys; or • 50 years have passed since the last credible record of the species, despite surveys in the interim; or • there is sufficient information to document that no individuals of the species remain alive.” (COSEWIC 2006).

Spring Salamander clearly meets the second bullet since more than 130 years have passed since the last credible record and several surveys have been conducted in the interim.