Plethodon kentucki, Mittleman, 1951

Marvin, Glenn A., 2024, Courtship and Mating Behavior of the Rare, Rock-Crevice Dwelling Salamander Plethodon petraeus with a Review for Eastern North American Woodland Salamanders (Amphibia: Plethodontidae), Ichthyology & Herpetology 112 (2), pp. 237-256 : 247

Review of some courtship behaviors for P. kentucki

The frequency (Hz) of rear-leg movement during foot dance in P. kentucki (mean ¼ 0.532 6 0.055, median ¼ 0.446, range ¼ 0.370 to 0.840, n ¼ 12; Supplemental Videos 44, 45, and 46) is significantly greater than for P. petraeus (mean ¼ 0.229 6 0.012, median ¼ 0.221, range ¼ 0.151 to 0.299, n ¼ 12; Mann-Whitney rank sum test, U ¼ 0.0, T ¼ 78.0, P, 0.001). Mental-gland popping (with very low amplitude; Supplemental Videos 47 and 48), snout high (Supplemental Video 46), ffTSWd, and ffTSWc are relatively infrequent (about 7 to 17% of courtships) in P. kentucki . Some female and male actions during ffTSW differ between the species. A female P. kentucki typically does not exhibit either tail flex or high tail arch during ffTSWd. A male P. kentucki does not straddle the female’s tail during ffTSWd or ffTSWc but instead he walks alongside her tail as he rests his chin on her tail base (Supplemental Videos 53, 54, 57, 58, and 59). As observed in P. petraeus , a female P. kentucki may turn back and bite during ffTSW (Supplemental Video 59), and turn back during sliding to perform chin over to elicit male position for TSW (Supplemental Videos 60 and 61).