Ambystoma maculatum
(Shaw, 1802) · speciesAt a glance
Sources10 archives
Databases and archives Ambystoma maculatum's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation13 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility38 746 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI7 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics19 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Amphibian Species of the WorldAMNHamphibian catalog↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The spotted salamander or yellow-spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) is a mole salamander common in eastern United States and Canada. The spotted salamander is the state amphibian of Ohio and South Carolina. This salamander ranges from Nova Scotia, to Lake Superior, to southern Georgia and Texas. Its embryos have been found to have symbiotic algae living in and around them, the only known example of vertebrate cells hosting an endosymbiont microbe (unless mitochondria are considered).
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology2
Life cycle & reproduction11
Habitat & environment5
Physiology & chemistry2
Other traits5
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Ambystoma maculatum has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Ambystoma maculatum carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type38 746 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions22 of 47 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| New Haven, US | 1 986 |
| Toronto, CA | 1 077 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 766 |
| Washington, US | 756 |
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 555 |
| Cambridge, US | 510 |
| Saint John, CA | 507 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 495 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 452 |
| APSUlocation not on record | 282 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 234 |
| Montgomery, US | 183 |
| Berkeley, US | 135 |
| EL PASO, US | 108 |
| Ohio State University - Amphibian Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record | 83 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 58 |
| CASlocation not on record | 48 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 38 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 30 |
| Mount Pleasant, US | 25 |
| München, DE | 24 |
| Southeastern Louisiana University, Vertebrate Museumlocation not on record | 24 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 21 |
| University of Texas at Arlingtonlocation not on record | 20 |
| Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural History Collectionlocation not on record | 17 |
| Meguro Parasitological Museumlocation not on record | 17 |
| Central Michigan University Museum of Cultural and Natural Historylocation not on record | 17 |
| San Diego, US | 16 |
| Los Angeles, US | 15 |
| Tempe, US | 11 |
| Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record | 10 |
| F. Scorina Gomel State Universitylocation not on record | 10 |
| Tacoma, US | 9 |
| Provo, US | 8 |
| Fort Hays State University, Sternberg Museumlocation not on record | 6 |
| Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record | 6 |
| Ohio Wesleyan University Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 4 |
| UBCBBMlocation not on record | 4 |
| Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record | 3 |
| 2 | |
| Seattle, US | 2 |
| University of Nebraska State Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| Universidad de La Salle (La Salle)location not on record | 1 |
| Brussels, BE | 1 |
| Canadian Museum of Naturelocation not on record | 1 |
| Santa Cruz, US | 1 |
| Philadelphia, US | 1 |
Where the DNA of Ambystoma maculatum was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.