Often a white edge along top of adult tail. Costal grooves 10-11. Larva distinctively marked with mottled throat, pale streak on side of head, dark stripe extending down middle of belly, and pale stripe on lower side. Bald cypress and tupelo swamplands, sloughs, and nearby ponds of the Cache, Mississippi, and Ohio river valleys at the southern tip of Illinois. Larvae transform during summer or autumn and, in a few permanent ponds, some large larvae are known to overwinter.
Adults feed on beetles, centipedes, slugs, worms, and other invertebrates.
It is locally common in some of the remaining habitat fragments protected in state conservation areas, nature preserves, and Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge.