This tiny, rare salamander calls the Chattooga area home

One little animal really shines as a truly rare critter in the Chattooga River area — the patch-nosed salamander (Urspelerpes brucei). At less than two inches long when fully mature, it is the smallest salamander in the United States.

Read more about the spectacular Chattooga River, the only National Wild and Scenic River in South Carolina

Named for the yellow patch on its nose, this lungless salamander was originally discovered in 2007 in northern Georgia. Specimens have also been found across the Chattooga in Oconee County. It is an incredibly rare salamander living in a salamander hotspot at the foothills of the Appalachians.

The patch-nosed salamander is so unique that it has its very own genus, which also happened to be the first genus of amphibian described in nearly 50 years!

Even more unusual, this salamander displays sexual color dimorphism, meaning the male and female look different.

And if that isn’t enough to make this little Upstate resident exceedingly rare, it also sports five toes instead of four, which is the norm for most salamanders.

Very few of these creatures have been found, suggesting that they may already be close to extinction. This makes efforts to protect their special habitat in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains even more critical.