The Black Mountain dusky is known to inhabit small to medium sized streams that are clear, cold, high gradient and clean.  All of these factors seem to determine which streams will be home to this fascinating species.  The salamander is known to be highly aquatic and likely needs lots of cool, rushing water running over its skin to supply its demand for oxegen.  Did you know that all members of this salamander's family, Plethodontidae, are lungless and breathe entirely through their skin?  Amazing!
This is a picture of a Black Mountain dusky that I found at Panther State Forest in McDowell county a few weeks ago (October).  It measured 75mm SVL ( he is about 51/2" long for all you english system fans).  If you were given this salamander without a tail you might have a little trouble deciphering whether it was a Black Mountain dusky or its cousin the northern dusky (D. fuscus).  If you look at the bottom of the toes of a salamander you can tell if it is a D. welteri if it has hardened, black toe tips that resemble nails or claws.  D. fuscus, the northen dusky or D. monticola, the seal salamander, will not have this character.  However if you look at this picture and have seen alot of other members of the genus Desmognathus the one thing that will likely jump out at you is the tail.  The northern dusky and seal salamanders will have a tail that is laterally compressed (which means it is more like a knife blade in cross section than something round), which will give an impression of a fin on the tail.  But the Black Mountain dusky has a tail fin that is larger and is seperate from the tail musculature.  In terms of coloration, this species is usually, at least as an adult, a rather uniform brownish or grayish color with some specks and reticulations on its back and sides.  The seal salamander usually has a distinct pattern on its back and the northern dusky usually has a back that is differently colored than its sides and belly and a distinct line between.

During my research I hope to uncover some of the factors that are important aspects of D. welteri habitiat.  For instance, do they only live in streams that are in mountainous areas and as a result only in high gradient, rushing streams?  This seems like it is the case in other parts of the species' range, but because West Virginia represents the northern-most limit of the species' range, things may be different here.  Do they only live in streams that are well shaded?  If so, this may have important implications for controlling certain land use methods along streams which are home to the species.  How about water pH, are they absent from streams that have a low pH, or are acidic?  Could it possibly be that activities such as coal mining have seriously limited the number of places this animal can live?  What watersheds are the species limited to?  All of these questions have implications for finding how the species has evolved and spread its range.

Also I would like to investigate the movement patterns of this species.  Most salamanders, likely including this one, live their life on a very small scale.  They live and die in the same stream and often in a very small section of a stream.  But they do have to move in order to eat, and to deal with changing conditions like water levels that drop during the summer, find a mate, or maybe to find a place to spend the winter.  By marking individuals with a flourescent elastomer implant and relocating them later I hope to get a peek into what kind of movements these animals make.  Also, how do these animals space themselves?  Are they territorial like many other salamanders and discourage other salamanders from hanging out right around where they do?  These are just a few questions that I will look at.
 
 

Here is a picture of the type of habitat where I have found Black Mountain duskies.  It is a rather high gradient, meaning that it drops rapidly in a short distance, stream with lots of little water falls and an abundance of large rocks for salamanders to hide under.  This particular stream is in Panther State Forest in McDowell County, West Virginia.  Also found in this stream are northern duskies (D. fuscus), and seal salamanders (D. moniticola).  Many streams in this area dry during the summer, but this stream may be fed by springs and therefore continues to flow, making it an ideal place for D. welteri to live.