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Besides studies on mental glands, research regarding cranial integumentary glands potentially involved in courtship of plethodontid salamanders is scarce. In this study, we examined the cranial glands of Eurycea chamberlaini. Scattered amongst typical mucous and serous glands of the integument, we found simple alveolar glands that reacted positively with the periodic acid-Schiff procedure along the lateral sides of the heads of only male E. chamberlaini during the putative mating season. These glands were identical to the lateral head courtship glands previously described in E. bislineata. External nasal glands of E. chamberlaini were also identical in morphology and histology to those previously described in E. bislineata, with the bulk of the secretory terminals residing behind the orbital cavities and extending anteriorly to where their excretory ducts empty through the integument dorsal to the external nares. We measured external nasal gland length, width, height, and volume and found that the means were greater in males when compared to females except for width, which was not sexually dimorphic. We compared external nasal gland tubular diameter to mental gland tubular diameter (a known secondary sexual structure) throughout the year and found a direct correlation that was significant in males but not for females; thus, hypertrophy of external nasal glands occurs at the same time pheromone production increases in mental glands, supporting a previously proposed hypothesis that external nasal glands are also secondary sexual structures in Eurycea. In culmination, Eurycea from two different complexes possess the same suite of cranial integumentary glands that may be involved in courtship, providing evidence that these glands are possibly ubiquitous across Eurycea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eurycea chamberlaini (Chamberlain's Dwarf Salamander) is a small spelerpine salamander with scant reproductive and life-history data available. Therefore, the objectives of our study were to examine the reproductive life history and population structure of E. chamberlaini from a North Carolina population. From February 2008 to February 2009, monthly collections were made in Craven County, North Carolina. All specimens (n=392) were histologically examined for reproductive life history and population characteristics by month. Overall, male and female E. chamberlaini follow a reproductive cycle similar to other spelerpine species with sperm in the Wolffian ducts of specimens from September to February; however, spermatidogenesis was delayed until August and September with the presence of mature sperm in testes from August through November. We captured 201 female salamanders of which 36 were considered immature. We caught 191 males of which 27 were considered immature. The mean snout-vent length (SVL61 SD) of mature females (27.1362.33 mm) and males (25.8462.03 mm) was statistically different from one another. Females tended to be larger than males from our monthly samples, with a greater proportion of the largest specimens being female. Overall, population structure of E. chamblerlaini appears similar to other coastal plain salamander species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]