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| Adult, Santa Clara County |
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Adult, Santa Clara County |
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Adult, Santa Clara County |
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| Adult, Santa Clara County |
Adult, Santa Clara County |
Adult, Santa Clara County |
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| Adult and juvenile, Santa Clara County |
Adult, Santa Cruz County
© Zachary Lim |
Adult, Santa Cruz County
© Zachary Lim |
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Adult, Santa Cruz County
© Zachary Lim |
Adult, Santa Clara County
© Mark Gary |
Adult, Santa Cruz County
© 2005 Brad Alexander |
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Adult, Santa Cruz County
© Spencer Riffle |
Adult, Santa Cruz County © Ryan Sikola |
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Adult, Santa Clara County
© Mark Gary |
Size comparison of an adult and a juvenile, part of a Santa Clara County survey © Ariel Starr |
The toes have tips adapted for climbing.
© Mark Gary |
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| Juveniles |
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| Juvenile, Santa Clara County © Zachary Lim |
Juvenile, Santa Clara County |
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Juvenile, Santa Cruz County
© Zachary Lim |
Juvenile, Santa Cruz County
© Zachary Lim |
Adult and juvenile, Santa Clara County |
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Subadult, Santa Clara County
© Ryan Sikola |
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| Habitat |
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| Habitat, Santa Cruz County |
Habitat, San Mateo County |
Habitat, Santa Cruz County
© Zachary Lim |
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Habitat, San Mateo County |
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| Description |
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| Size |
Adults measure 2 - 3 3/4 inches long (5.1 - 9.5 cm) from snout to vent, and up to 5.5 inches (14 cm) in total length.
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| Appearance |
A medium-sized salamander with nasolabial grooves and well-defined costal grooves.
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| Color and Pattern |
| Dorsal coloring is solid black, with a few fine white specks. |
| Male/Female Differences |
| Males have a broader head than females. |
| Young |
Young are black with white speckles
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| Life History and Behavior |
A member of family Plethodontidae, the Plethodontid or Lungless Salamanders.
Plethodontid salamanders do not breathe through lungs. They conduct respiration through their skin and the tissues lining their mouth. This requires them to live in damp environments on land and to move about on the ground only during times of high humidity. (Plethodontid salamanders native to California do not inhabit streams or bodies of water but they are capable of surviving for a short time if they fall into water.)
Plethodontid salamanders are also distinguished by their naso-labial grooves, which are vertical slits between the nostrils and upper lip that are lined with glands associated with chemoreception.
All Plethodontid Salamanders native to California lay eggs in moist places on land.
The young develop in the egg and hatch directly into a tiny terrestrial salamander with the same body form as an adult.
(They do not hatch in the water and begin their lives as tiny swimming larvae breathing through gills like some other types of salamanders.)
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| Activity |
Adapted for climbing with long toes and rounded prehensile tail, but mostly terrestrial. Adults forage for small invertebrates on the ground at night during wet weather. May be active along streams all year at the southern part of its range, but most stay underground during dry periods.
"This is the most semiaquatic member of the [Aneides flavipunctatus] complex and individuals are commonly encountered in the margins of rapidly flowing streams and in wet, rocky seeps. Individuals are rarely encountered far from water."
(Reilly and Wake 2019) |
Territoriality
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| Adults appear to be agressively territorial. |
| Longevity |
| Black Salamanders have lived as long as 20 years in captivity. |
| Defense |
| When threatened, juveniles typically remain still while adults attempt to flee. Other defense tactics include defensive posturing - raising the body, lowering the head, and waving the tail, jumping, releasing noxious sticky skin secretions, and biting. |
| Diet and Feeding |
| Diet consists of a variety of small invertebrates, including millipedes, ants and termites. As salamanders grow larger, they eat fewer, but larger prey items. |
| Reproduction |
Reproduction is terrestrial.
Courtship and breeding behavior is not well known.
Breeding males have a well-developed mental gland.
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| Eggs |
Females probably lay from 8 - 25 eggs in moist cavities belowthe ground in July and August.
Eggs are attached by peduncles.
Females stay with the eggs until they hatch. |
| Young |
Young develop completely in the egg and hatch fully formed.
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| Comparison With Other Black Salamanders |
"This species is distinguished from other members of the Aneides flavipunctatus complex by its nearly uniform black coloration in adults; juveniles have numerous tiny white dorsal spots that are lost progressively at larger sizes... it is further distinguished from A. iecanus by having an average number of trunk vertebrae of 17 rather than 16."
(Reilly and Wake 2019)
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| Habitat |
Occurs in mixed deciduous woodland, coniferous forests, coastal grasslands. Found under rocks near streams, in talus, under damp logs, and other objects. Rarely encountered very far from water.
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| Geographical Range |
The Santa Cruz Black Salamander, Aneides niger - is endemic to California, with a limited range west of the San Francisco Bay and south of the San Francisco peninsusla in Santa Cruz County, western Santa Clara County, and southern San Mateo County.
"Aneides niger occurs only in the Santa Cruz Mountains on the lower San Francisco Peninsula in Santa Cruz, western Santa Clara, and extreme southern and eastern San Mateo counties, California.... The southernmost locality is at approximately 37 degrees N. The species occurs from near sea level to elevations of approximately 800 m. [2,624 ft.]"
(Reilly and Wake 2019)
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| Taxonomic Notes |
Aneides flavipunctatus was split into four species in August, 2019. The subspecies Aneides flavipunctatus niger was raised in rank to a full species.
In a 2019 paper Reilly & Wake confirmed that Aneides flavipunctatus consists of four species:
Klamath Black Salamander - Aneides klamathensis Stebbins, 1951 & Dubois and Raffaelli, 2009
Speckled Black Salamander - Aneides flavipunctatus (Strauch 1870)
Shasta Black Salamander - Aneides iecanus (Cope 1883)
Santa Cruz Black Salamander - Aneides niger Myers & Maslin 1948
(Reilly and Wake 2019)
In a 2014 paper, Reilly and Wake showed four species-level units of A. flavipunctatus, including the isolated population south of the San Francisco Bay, but they do not describe any new species.
(Reilly and Wake 2014)
In a study published in 2007, Rissler and Apodaca determined that even though there is little morphological divergence across the species, the use of mtDNA analyses and ecological modeling indicates that there are four separate main lineages of A. flavipunctatus which eventually should be given full species status: A Southern Disjunct lineage on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Santa Cruz Mountains; a Shasta lineage in the Mount Shasta region; a Central lineage on the north coast and north coast ranges north of San Francisco Bay; and a Northwest lineage in the northwest corner of the state including Humboldt, Del Norte, and Siskiyou Counties. There is another population within the Central Lineage which is also distinct, but they do not discuss this in detail. They recommended that the Shasta and Southern lineages be elevated to species status, but that more work is needed to determine the southern extent of the Northwest lineage. Once that has been determined, they recommend that the Northwest lineage also be elevated to species status.
(Rissler, Leslie J., and Joseph J. Apodaca. Adding More Ecology into Species Delimitation: Ecological Niche Models and Phylogeography Help Define Cryptic Species in the Black Salamander (Aneides flavipunctatus). Syst. Biol. 56(6):924–942, 2007 )
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife Special Animals List shows this taxa as a full species:
Aneides Niger - Santa Cruz Black Salamander.
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Alternate and Previous Names (Synonyms)
Aneides flavipunctatus niger - Santa Cruz Black Salamander (Stebbins & McGinnis 2012 & 2018)
Aneides flavipunctatus - Black Salamander (Stebbins 1985, 2003)
Aneides flavipunctatus niger - Santa Cruz Black Salamander (Stebbins 1966)
Aneides flavipunctatus niger - Black Salamander (Stebbins 1954)
Aneides flavipunctatus - Black Salamander (Shasta Salamander)(Bishop 1943)
Autodax iecanus - Shasta Salamander - Black Salamander (Grinnell and Camp 1917)
Autodax iecanus (Cope 1886)
Aneides iecanus (Cope 1886)
Plethodon flavipunctatus (Strauch 1870)
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| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
Protected from take with a sport fishing license in 2013 due to a special closure prohibiting the take of Black Salamanders from San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.
"The most vulnerable of the four species of the Aneides flavipunctatus complex are A. niger and A. iecanus. Both have relatively small geographic ranges within which critical habitat has been heavily impacted by humans."
(Reilly and Wake 2019)
Anectodal observations suggest that Aneides niger was relatively abundant in the early 1900s, but has been more difficult to find in the past decades, which suggests a reduction in population size. In a 2024 paper, B.R. Kong et al describe using genetic data to test for signatures of population size change which detected a relatively recent reduction in population size.
However, there have not been sufficient survey efforts in the past to provide a population baseline to confirm this. Possible causes for a population reduction are clear-cut redwood logging in the 1800s, which led to drastic changes in the soil, flora, temperature and humidity of salamander microhabitats, and the arrival of chytrid fungus in the 20th century.
(Brandon R. Kong, Ammon Corl, Sean B. Reilly. Temporal Changes in Geographic Range and Population Size of the Santa Cruz Black Salamander. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management | www.fwspubs.org June 2024 | Volume 15 | Issue 1 | 17.) |
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| Taxonomy |
| Family |
Plethodontidae |
Lungless Salamanders |
Gray, 1850 |
| Genus |
Aneides |
Climbing Salamanders |
Baird, 1851 |
Subspecies
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niger |
Santa Cruz Black Salamander |
Myers and Maslin, 1948 |
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Original Description |
Aneides flavipunctatus - (Strauch, 1870) - Mem. Acad. Sci. St. Petersburg, Ser. 7, Vol. 16, No. 4, p. 71
Aneides flavipunctatus niger - Myers and Maslin, 1948 - Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, Vol. 61, p. 132
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Aneides: Greek - lacking form or shape
niger: Latin - black
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Related or Similar California Salamanders |
Aneides ferreus - Clouded Salamander
Aneides flavipunctatus - Speckled Black Salamander
Aneides iecanus - Shasta Black Salamander
Aneides klamathensis - Klamath Black Salamander
Aneides lugubris - Arboreal Salamander
Aneides vagrans - Wandering Salamander
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More Information and References |
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
AmphibiaWeb
Hansen, Robert W. and Shedd, Jackson D. California Amphibians and Reptiles. (Princeton Field Guides.) Princeton University Press, 2025.
Stebbins, Robert C., and McGinnis, Samuel M. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Revised Edition (California Natural History Guides) University of California Press, 2012.
Stebbins, Robert C. California Amphibians and Reptiles. The University of California Press, 1972.
Flaxington, William C. Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Field Observations, Distribution, and Natural History. Fieldnotes Press, Anaheim, California, 2021.
Samuel M. McGinnis and Robert C. Stebbins. Peterson Field Guide to Western Reptiles & Amphibians. 4th Edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2018.
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., and F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Powell, Robert., Joseph T. Collins, and Errol D. Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. The University Press of Kansas, 1998.
American Museum of Natural History - Amphibian Species of the World 6.2
Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Amphibians of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009.
Bishop, Sherman C. Handbook of Salamanders. Cornell University Press, 1943.
Lannoo, Michael (Editor). Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species. University of California Press, June 2005.
Petranka, James W. Salamanders of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution, 1998.
Joseph Grinnell and Charles Lewis Camp. A Distributional List of the Amphibians and Reptiles of California. University of California Publications in Zoology Vol. 17, No. 10, pp. 127-208. July 11, 1917.
Reilly SB, Wake DB. 2019. Taxonomic revision of black salamanders of the Aneides flavipunctatus complex (Caudata: Plethodontidae) PeerJ 7:e7370 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj. 7370
Sean B. Reilly and David B. Wake 2014. Cryptic diversity and biogeographical patterns within the black salamander (Aneides flavipunctatus) complex.
Journal of Biogeography
Brandon R. Kong, Ammon Corl, Sean B. Reilly. Temporal Changes in Geographic Range and Population Size of the Santa Cruz Black Salamander. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management | www.fwspubs.org June 2024 | Volume 15 | Issue 1 | 17.
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The following conservation status listings for this animal are taken from the April 2024 State of California Special Animals List and the April 2024 Federally Listed Endangered and Threatened Animals of California list (unless indicated otherwise below.) Both lists are produced by multiple agencies every year, and sometimes more than once per year, so the conservation status listing information found below might not be from the most recent lists. To make sure you are seeing the most recent listings, go to this California Department of Fish and Wildlife web page where you can search for and download both lists:
https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Data/CNDDB/Plants-and-Animals.
A detailed explanation of the meaning of the status listing symbols can be found at the beginning of the two lists. For quick reference, I have included them on my Special Status Information page.
If no status is listed here, the animal is not included on either list. This most likely indicates that there are no serious conservation concerns for the animal. To find out more about an animal's status you can also go to the NatureServe and IUCN websites to check their rankings.
Check the current California Department of Fish and Wildlife sport fishing regulations to find out if this animal can be legally pursued and handled or collected with possession of a current fishing license. You can also look at the summary of the sport fishing regulations as they apply only to reptiles and amphibians that has been made for this website.
This taxa has been shown as a full species since the June 2016 Special Animals List.
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| Organization |
Status Listing |
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| NatureServe Global Ranking |
G3 |
Vulnerable
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| NatureServe State Ranking |
S3 |
Vulnerable
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
None |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
None |
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| California Department of Fish and Wildlife |
SSC |
Species of Special Concern |
| Bureau of Land Management |
None |
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| USDA Forest Service |
None |
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| IUCN |
None |
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