A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Ambystoma californiense - California Tiger Salamander

Click on a picture for a larger view

Historical Range in California: Red

Dot-locality Range Map

Transformed Adults and Juveniles

Adult, Alameda County

Adult, Solano County. © Gary Nafis.
Specimen courtesy of Brad Schaeffer & Dylan Dietrich-Reed, UC Davis.

Adult, Alameda County

Adult, Madera County
© David Tobler

Adult, Santa Cruz County

Adult, Monterey County

Adult, Solano County. © Melissa Newman

Juvenile, Solano County.
© Melissa Newman

Adult, Alameda County

Transformed juvenile observed on a rainy night in November, probably leaving a breeding pond, in Contra Costa County. © Chad Lane

Adult, San Joaquin County

Juveniles from a pit trap study, Solano County. © Melissa Newman

Juvenile, Santa Clara County. © Jon Hirt

Adult, San Joaquin County.
© James Rexroth

Adult female, Solano County (captured and handled under Federal Recovery Permit and released at point of capture.) © Adam Clause

Metamorph, Solano County (captured and handled under Federal Recovery Permit and released at point of capture.)
© Adam Clause

Santa Barbara County Population

Adult, Santa Barbara County. © Gary Nafis. Specimen courtesy of Brad Schaeffer & Dylan Dietrich-Reed, UC Davis.

Herpetologist Sam Sweet has made an outstanding illustrated report of a survey for Santa Barbara Tiger Salamanders on a public herping forum showing the habitat, many larval salamanders, and a recent metamorph, which you can see along with the ensuing discussion here.

Sonoma County Population

Tiny juvenile, Sonoma County
© Edgar Ortega

Adult, Sonoma County
© Edgar Ortega

Ambystoma mavortium - Barred Tiger Salamander Hybrids

Monterey County adult hybrid of A. t. mavortium - Barred Tiger Salamander and A. californiense. © Gary Nafis. Specimen courtesy of Brad Schaeffer & Dylan Dietrich-Reed, UC Davis.

Herpetologist Sam Sweet has made a fascinating public forum post regarding introduced tiger salamanders hybridizing with California Tiger salamanders in Santa Barbara County which you can see along with the ensuing discussion here.

Eggs

Eggs out of water, Alameda County
© Joseph E. DiDonato

One egg photographed out of the water
© Bill Stagnaro

Eggs on a small stick underwater
© Bill Stagnaro

Eggs, Monterey County © Shirley Tudor

Eggs, Santa Clara County © Rob Schell

Larvae

Newly hatched larva, Sonoma County.
© Bill Stagnaro

Larva with Sierran Treefrog tadpoles, Alameda County. © Joseph E. DiDonato

Larva showing pigment development, Alameda County © Joseph E. DiDonato

Light colored larva, Alameda County.
© Joseph E. DiDonato

Larvae swimming in breeding pond in late June, Contra Costa County

Mature Larva in water. © Gary Nafis. Specimen courtesy of Brad Schaeffer & Dylan Dietrich-Reed, UC Davis.

Larva, Contra Costa County, netted in an amphibian survey in late August.

Larva in breeding pond in early June, Contra Costa County. © Chad M. Lane

Larva caught by Giant Water Bug nymph, (Lethocerus sp.) which will kill it by injecting a digestive saliva then sucking out the liquefied remains. Alameda County. © Joseph E. DiDonato

Egg and larva, Monterey County
© Shirley Tudor

Pale, possibly albino, larva, Alameda County, seined by permitted biologists.
© Michael Starkey

Larvae, Santa Clara County © Rob Schell

Habitat

Habitat, Alameda County

Habitat, Santa Cruz County

Habitat, Sonoma County

Habitat, Alameda County

Breeding pond, Alameda County

Native prairie with vernal pool breeding habitat in winter, Solano County

Historical habitat from museum records that has been developed for agriculture, Santa Barbara County.

Grasslands habitat, Merced County

Breeding pond, Alameda County

Habitat, Alameda County

Breeding pond in March,
Contra Costa County

Breeding pond in late June, Contra Costa County

Breeding pond in late August,
Contra Costa County

California Ground Squirrel Association

A California Tiger Salamander spends most of its life underground. California Ground Squirrel burrows, such as those seen here, are often a very important part of the habitat of these salamanders.

Short Video

California Tiger Salamander larvae swim around a murky pool in Contra Costa County, rising to the surface for a gulp of air or to attempt to eat Sierran Treefrog tadpoles.

Description

Size

Adults are 3-5 inches (7.6 - 12.7 cm) long from snout-to-vent, 5.9 - 8.5 inches (15-22 cm) total length.

Appearance

Lustrous black with large yellow spots and bars, often not present along the middle of the back.
South coast individuals may have few spots and a cream band on the lower sides.
The body is stout with a short rounded head, blunt snout, small protruberant eyes, no nasolabial grooves, and a tail flattened from side to side to facilitate swimming. Usually has 12 prominent costal grooves. Transformed adults have lungs.
Larvae are yellowish gray with broad caudal fins that extend well onto the back, broad flat heads, and bushy gills.

Behavior and Natural History

A member of the Mole Salamander family (Ambystomatidae) whose members are medium to large in size with heavy, stocky bodies. Adults spend much of their lives underground, often utilizing the tunnels of burrowing mammals such as moles and ground squirrels. Ambystomatid salamanders have two distinct life phases. Larvae are born in the water where they swim using an enlarged tail fin and breathe with filamentous external gills. Generally, these aquatic larvae transform into four-legged salamanders that live on the ground and breathe air with lungs.

Nocturnal, and fossorial, spending most time underground in animal burrows, especially those of California ground squirrels and valley pocket gophers. Emerges at night with the fall rains sometimes in early November. This salamander needs both suitable upland terrestrial habitat and temporary breeding ponds in order to survive.

Aestivation may occur during the heat of summer, but this salamander does not need to hibernate due to the mild winters that occur in its range. Adults live to at least 11 years of age.

Larvae are aquatic and very wary, resting motionless on the bottom when not feeding, but swimming for cover when disturbed. Neotenic adults have not been reported, likely due to the ephemeral nature of the larval ponds.

Predators include California Red-legged Frogs, American Bullfrogs, Gartersnakes, Skunks, and Ground Squirrels.

Diet

Adults probably feed mainly on a variety of invertebrates. Hatchlings feed on zooplankton and older larvae feed on tadpoles (mostly Pseuadcris tadpoles) and aquatic invertebrates.

Reproduction and Young

Reproduction is aquatic in standing water. Most breeding occurs December through February. Breeding can occur explosively all at once, or it can continue for several months depending on rainfall. Males breed at 2 years of age, females at 2 - 3 years. Most breeding adults are 4 - 6 years old.

Adults engage in mass migration during a few rainy nights during the rainy season from November to May and leave the breeding ponds shortly after breeding. During years without sufficient rainfall, migrations and breeding do not occur. Most adults return to their natal pond during their first year of breeding, but a study showed that about 30 percent bred in a different pond. Males arrive at the breeding pond a week or two before the females, and stay about four times longer - an average of 37 - 44.7 days according to two studies, while females averaged stays of 10 - 11.8 days.

Breeding usually occurs in fish-free ephemeral ponds that form during winter and dry out in summer, but some salamanders may also breed in slow streams and in some semi-permanent waters, including cattle ponds, probably due to the loss of ehpemeral ponds in their habitat.

Females lay eggs and attach them to underwater vegetation incuding grass stems, leaves, and twigs, and sometimes to objects such as metal wire. They are laid singly or in groups of 2 - 4. Eggs are pale yellow or brownish and about 2 mm in diameter. In one study, females contained 413 - 1,340 eggs, averaging 814. Eggs hatch in 2 to 4 weeks.

The larval stage lasts 4 - 5 months. Larvae rmetamorphose during the summer, peaking from mid June to mid July, and migrate away from the ponds at night under wet or dry conditions, sheltering in soil cracks and animal burrows.

Range

Endemic to California. The historic range of this species is not well known because it has been fragmented, but they were probably distributed throughout most of the Central Valley where there was suitable vernal pool and grassland habitat, from Tulare County north to at least Yolo County, and in the south coast ranges from San Luis Obispo County north to Monterey Bay and north, east of the Bay Area. Isolated populations now occur in the Sacramento Valley at Gray Lodge National Wildlife Refuge and near Dunnigan. Two other populations have been isolated from the rest of the range long enough that they may constitute two unique species - one in Sonoma County near Santa Rosa, and another in Santa Barbara County.
Currently, most populations in the Central Valley have been eliminated, and the remainder are found in the surrounding foothills.

Habitat

Frequents grassland, oak savanna, and edges of mixed woodland and lower elevation coniferous forest.

Taxonomic Notes

Genetic data shows that the populations in Santa Barbara County and in Sonoma County have been isolated from the rest of the range for about a million years, and they might be unique species.

Formerly considered a subspecies of Ambystoma tigrinum.

Conservation Issues (Conservation Status)

This species is protected by California State and Federal laws.

A threatened species - estimated to have disappeared from more than 50 percent of its historic range. Many populations have been extirpated due to loss of or fragmentation of suitable habitat through urbanization and agriculture. Eradication of California Ground Squirrels due to concerns about their effect on cattle grazing and agriculture may also threaten populations of this salamander because of its reliance on ground squirrel burrows. Predation by non-native Bullfrogs also appears to be a threat.

Hybridization with non-native Tiger Salamanders also threatens the continuity of this species. A 2007 study* found that when California Tiger Salamanders hybridize with non-native Tiger Salamanders, more of the hybrid offspring survived in the wild than did the young of the non-native Tiger Salamanders or the native California Tiger Salamanders. A 2009 study** found that tiger salamander hybridization might even pose a threat to other threatened pond-breeding species.

Taxonomy
Family	Ambystomatidae	Mole Salamanders
Genus	Ambystoma	Mole Salamanders
Species	californiense	California Tiger Salamander
Original description
Gray, 1853 - Proc. Zool. Soc. London, Vol. 21, p. 11, pl. from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
Meaning of the Scientific Name
Ambystoma: anabystoma - to cram into the mouth. Possibly derived from Amblystoma: Greek - blunt mouth. californiense: belonging to the state of California. from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
Alternate Names
Formerly known as Ambystoma tigrinum californiense - California Tiger Salamander
Related or Similar California Salamanders
Barred Tiger Salamander Blotched Tiger Salamander Arizona Tiger Salamander Southern Long-toed Salamander Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander Large-Blotched Ensatina
More Information and References
California Tiger Salamander Breeding Activity Blog Page Natureserve Explorer California Dept. of Fish and Game AmphibiaWeb Center for Biological Diversity 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. 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. * Benjamin M. Fitzpatrick and H. Bradley Shaffer. Hybrid vigor betwee native and introduced salamanders raises new challenges for conservation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 2, 2007 vol. 104 no. 40 15793–15798. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0704791104 ** Maureen E. Ryana, Jarrett R. Johnson, and Benjamin M. Fitzpatrick. Invasive hybrid tiger salamander genotypes impact native amphibians. pnas July 7,2009 vol. 106 no. 27 11169. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0902252106

Conservation Status
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. These listings apply to the species as a whole. The Santa Barbara County population of California Tiger Salamanders is federally listed as Endangered. The Sonoma County population is a proposed candidate to be put on the federal Endangered species list.
Organization	Status Listing
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)	FT	Threatened
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)	ST	Threatened
California Department of Fish and Game	DFG:SSC	California Species of Special Concern
Bureau of Land Management	None
USDA Forest Service	None
Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks	G2G3 S2S3	Imperiled
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List	IUCN:VU	Vulnerable

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