Red-backed Salamander
I found this salamander under rotting wood in a deciduous forest. It kept wriggling and contorting its body in uncomfortable-looking positions, as you can see in this photo. It had a blackish brown body with a mottled, red stripe down the middle of its back. It's belly was black and white. It was about 6 cm long.
The red-backed salamander exhibits color polymorphism with two common color variations - the 'red-backed' variety has a red dorsal stripe that tapers towards the tail and the 'lead-backed' variety lacks most or all of the red pigmentation. The red-backed phase is not always red, but may actually be various other colors (yellow-backed, orange-backed, or white-backed)
The red-backed salamander is a species of small, hardy woodland salamander in the family Plethodontidae. The species inhabits wooded slopes in eastern North America, west to Missouri, south to North Carolina, and north from southern Quebec and the Maritime provinces in Canada to Minnesota.
