Abstract: In the occurrence of strong niche overlap, an aggressive and territorial species may actively defend a resource not only from its conspecifics, but also from species of an unrelated taxa with which it has a guild relationship. The red-backed salamander ( Plethodon cinereus ) and a carabid beetle ( Carabus limbatus ) both inhabit the deciduous forests surrounding the Mountain Lake Biological Station in Giles County , Virginia . Both can be found in the leaf litter, feeding on similar prey, and beneath similar-sized stone and wood cover objects. Analysis was made regarding the effect P. cinereus removal from a forest environment on the numbers of carabid beetles found in that area. The overlapping resources of this guild pair lead to expectations of negative forest association, as well as competition for cover objects in a semi-natural environment and a change in territoriality relating to an increased number of intruders. However, there was no spatial association found between P. cinereus and carabid beetles. For P. cinereus and C. limbatus, resident and intruder cover object use was determined solely by species identity and not by residency status, intruder species or intruder number. While these two species represent an intertaxa guild pair, they do not appear to compete in terms of territoriality for cover objects, despite their overlapping resource needs.