Species Spotlight: Plethodon sequoyah, the Sequoyah Slimy Salamander!
Visually, it’s unlikely you’d be able to distinguish this species from its close relatives the Western or Louisiana Slimies; rather you must rely on range, as most of their differences are genetic. This is an extremely range-restricted salamander, found only within and very closely adjacent to Beaver’s Bend State Park in a disjunct southern uplift of the Ouachita Mountains where it appears during cooler wet periods under rocks, logs, and other cover in the moist canyons and seepages of the region. They do tend to be slightly smaller than Western Slimy salamanders of the adjacent lowlands, but otherwise similarly colored in black with variably dense specklings of white spots. Like all their relatives, they are flighty creatures when disturbed, and their main defense mechanism is the secretion of an extremely sticky, nigh impossible to scrub off slime across their skin.

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Western Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon vehiculum).
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