Identification- 4-6.5" (10-16.5 cm) A moderately sized salamander with a slender body. In adults the tail is longer than the body. In juveniles the tail and the body are approximately the same length. Bright yellow-orange in color with numerous small black dots peppering the back and sides. These black markings form chevron-like markings on the highly keeled tail. Distinctive. Costal Grooves 13-14.
    Similar Species- Red Salamanders are heavy bodied and usually darker in color. Red Salamanders also have a short tail which is less visibly keeled.

Range- Pennsylvania and neighboring New York. Absent from the Lake Erie plain.
 

Habitat- Cold springs, streams, and caves bordering wooded areas. Sometimes wanders. Most common near clear, running bodies of water where fish are absent.

Reproduction- Females can be distinguished from males by lack of prominent cirri and smooth cloacal lips. Mating occurs in fall and early winter. In mid- late winter several small groups of eggs are laid in subsurface cracks, caverns, and caves near their streamside habitat. Eggs are attached singly to cover objects in or near running water. Hatching takes place 6-8 wks later. Larvae hatch at 3/4" (2 cm) and reach approximately 1.5" (4 cm) at metamorphosis 4-7 months later (June to July). Maturity reached in 1 to 2 years.

General Characteristics-
    Most often found under logs, stones, and other cover objects near running streams in lightly wooded areas. An attractive species, Longtail Salamanders are slender creatures closely related to the Two-lined Salamander. Although somewhat local, proper habitats can hold large aggregations. Reports exist of up to 80 individuals beneath one limestone slab. These findings suggest Longtail Salamanders are not territorial. Like many other salamanders, Longtails are nocturnal and spend their days under cover, but wander the ground surface at night in search of invertebrate prey.  Many of those I have found in Tioga County, New York were single individuals with no real population centers.  One population I encountered in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, however, has a very definite population center.  I have seen more than thirty adult individuals in a fifty foot (15m) radius while farther out there are fewer salamanders to be found.
    Juveniles don't possess the long tail that gives this species its common and species name, but adults do have a large tail in proportion to their bodies.  It is quite visible in this photograph.