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Adult, Mariposa County |
Adult, 1,100 ft., Fresno County |
Juvenile, Tulare County |
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Adult, Kern County |
Adult and large juvenile, Kern County |
Adult, Fresno County (notice the defensive milking on tail)
© Tim Burkhardt |
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Adult, Kern County |
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Adult underside, Kern County |
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The presence of Ensatina on the Kern Plateau in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains was confirmed in 2003 when Brad Alexander found several (including the one shown above) one rainy night in an area where he had seen them many years previously. Because of its range and appearance, this animal is included with the subspecies E. e. platensis, although it is possible that research on this animal could prove otherwise.
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Habitat, Kern County |
Habitat, Yosemite Valley, Mariposa County |
Habitat, Tulare County |
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Habitat, Shasta County
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Habitat, Fresno County |
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Description |
| Size |
| Adult Ensatina measure from 1 1/2 - 3 1/5 inches long ( 3.8 - 8.1 cm) from snout to vent, and 3 - 6 inches (7.5 - 15.5 cm) in total length. |
| Appearance |
A medium-sized plethodontid salamander which breathes through its smooth moist thin skin. The legs are long, and the body is relatively short, with 12 - 13 costal grooves. Nasolabial grooves are present. The tail is rounded and constricted at the base, which will differentiate this salamander from its neighbors. Males have longer, more slender tails than females, and a shorter snout with an enlarged upper lip.
This subspecies is gray to dark brown above, with reddish to orange spots. The underside is pale gray to whitish. Yellow to orange coloring is present on the base of the limbs. The upper eyelids have yellow to orange spots. Juveniles are darker with fewer spots. |
| Behavior |
| Ensatinas live in relatively cool moist places on land, and stay underground during hot and dry periods where they are able to tolerate considerable dehydration. They are most active on rainy or wet nights when temperatures are moderate. High-altitude populations are also inactive during severe winter weather. When disturbed, this salamander will stand tall in a stiff-legged defensive posture with its back swayed and the tail raised up. Often the salamander will secrete a milky white substance from the tail. This noxious substance repels potential predators. |
| Diet |
| Eats a wide variety of invertebrates. Click here to watch a movie of an Ensatina feeding. |
| Reproduction |
| Breeds mainly in fall and spring, but may also breed throughout the winter. Females lay eggs on land, brooding them under bark or in rotting logs or underground. The young hatch fully formed. |
| Range |
This subspecies of Ensatina is endemic to California. Found in the Sierra Nevada mountains from the Kern River area north to the area around Mt. Lassen where integrades with E. e. oregonensis (or E. e. picta) occur. From around 1,000 ft. (305 m) to around 11,000 ft. (3,350 m). In the central Sierra Nevadas, it occurs at higher elevations than E. e. xanthoptica.
The species Ensatina is found in an isolated location in the mountains of Baja California and along the extreme northwest coast of Baja California, north through California circling the central valley, in the Cascades Mountains and west of the mountains in Oregon and Washington, on Vancouver Island, and along the coast of southern British Columbia. |
| Habitat |
| Inhabits moist shaded evergreen and deciduous forests and oak woodlands. Found under rocks, logs, other debris, especially bark that has peeled off and fallen beside logs and trees. Most common where there is a lot of coarse woody debris on the forest foor. In dry or very cold weather, stays inside moist logs, animal burrows, under roots, woodrat nests, under rocks. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
| Hybridizes with E. e. xanthoptica in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Ensatina eschscholtzii is typically treated as a "ring" species, consisting of 7 subspecies: E. e. croceater, E. e. eschscholtzii, E. e. klauberi, E. e. oregonensis, E. e. picta, E. e. platensis, and E. e. xanthoptica, which ring the Central Valley, but do not interbreed where the rings overlap in Southern California (and possibly in the central Sierra Nevada.) Some researchers see Ensatina eschscholtzii as two or more species forming a superspecies complex, recognizing E. e. klauberi, found at the southern end of the ring, as a separate species - Ensatina klauberi. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Plethodontidae |
Lungless Salamanders |
| Genus |
Ensatina |
Ensatinas |
| Species |
Eschscholtzii |
Ensatina |
Subspecies
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platensis |
Sierra Nevada Ensatina |
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Original Description |
Ensatina eschscholtzii - Gray, 1850 - Cat. Spec. Amph. Coll. Brit. Mus., Batr. Grad., p. 48
Ensatina eschscholtzii platensis - Jimenez de la Espada, 1875) - An. Soc. Espan. Hist. Nat. 4, p. 71, pl. 1
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Ensatina: Latin - sword shaped/similar to, possibly referring to the teeth.
eschscholtzii: honors Johann F. Eschscholtz.
platensis: Belonging to the Rio La Plata, Uruguay. Espada named this salamander Urotropis platensis because he thought
it came from Montevideo, Uruguay.
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
None
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Related California Salamanders |
Large-blotched Ensatina
Monterey Ensatina
Oregon Ensatina
Painted Ensatina
Yellow-eyed Ensatina
Yellow-blotched Ensatina
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
AmphibiaWeb
Speciation in Progress
Ensatina Feeding movies
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Bishop, Sherman C. Handbook of Salamanders. Cornell University Press, 1943.
Petranka, James W. Salamanders of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution, 1998.
Lannoo, Michael (Editor). Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species. University of California Press, June 2005.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
This salamander is not included on the Special Animals List, which indicates that there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
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| USDA Forest Service |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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