Courtship behaviors of Three-Lined Salamanders (Eurycea guttolineata)

The courtship behaviors of plethodontid salamanders have long been of interest to biologists studying topicssuch as the evolution of complex phenotypes and the origin of reproductive isolation. However, the paucity of basicnatural history data for some salamanders — including some rather widely distributed and common species — createslimitations for comparative research. We herein provide the first detailed account of courtship behaviors in Three-Lined Salamanders (Eurycea guttolineata). We staged trials with wild-collected adults from near Atlanta, Georgia, andobserved courtship behaviors in seven of eight trials. Of those seven trials, all resulted in spermatophore depositionand five resulted in successful spermatophore transfer. Overall, the courtship behaviors of E. guttolineata are similar tothose of other species in the genus and include “snapping” pheromone delivery — a behavior not previously observedin the closest relatives of E. guttolineata. We provide an ethogram and preliminary interpretations of these behaviorsand encourage others to collect more basic natural history observations.