Plethodon serratus
Silhouette: Beth Reinke · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
The southern red-backed salamander (Plethodon serratus) is a species of salamander endemic to the United States. It is found in four widely disjunct populations: one in central Louisiana; one in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma; one in central Missouri; and one from southeastern Tennessee, to southwestern North Carolina, western Georgia, and eastern Alabama. It is sometimes referred to as the Georgia red-backed salamander or the Ouachita red-backed salamander. It was once considered a subspecies of the red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus.
The southern red-backed salamander is typically gray or black in color, with a red-brown, fading stripe across the width of its back. It grows from 8 to 11 cm (3 to 4 in) in length. Similar to Plethodon cinereus, Plethodon serratus comes in several atypical color variations. The typical red backed phase with a red dorsal stripe consists of most individuals. The atypical variations include a lead backed phase with a dark grey stripe, a silver back phase with a light grey dorsal stripe, hypomelanistic (leucistic) variations of the red backed form, and the rare white backed, or ghost phase. Unlike P. cinereus, P... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Red-backed Salamander sighting in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a given day, based on 250 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 7th most-seen of the 36 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and March
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Red-backed Salamander in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a given day, against about 10% in July to September, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southern Red-backed Salamander sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in our data
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Southern Red-backed Salamander sightings: about 40% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Plethodon
The closest relatives of the Southern Red-backed Salamander that you can see in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (genus Plethodon, Woodland Salamanders) are Red-cheeked Salamander (about 50%), Northern Slimy Salamander (about 20%) and Southern Zigzag Salamander (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Red-backed Salamander is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (250 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
