Key to Jefferson Salamander Complex

The Jefferson Salamander Complex illustrates a valuable lesson about nature: not all things that look the same are members of the same species. The Complex consists of two species -- the Jefferson Salamander and the Blue-Spotted Salamander -- and associated hybrids. Even experts cannot always tell these groups apart without the use of genetic analysis. The distribution of the groups do not overlap in all locations, so sometimes it is possible to make a positive identification in the field.

7a. north or west of Timmins (in northern Ontario)

                    Ambystoma laterale (Blue-spotted Salamander)

7b. everywhere else in southern Ontario

                   Ambystoma jeffersonianum (Jefferson Salamander)

                or Ambystoma laterale (Blue-spotted Salamander)

                or one of the hybrids