California Reptiles & Amphibians

Ensatina eschscholtzii klauberi - Large-blotched Ensatina



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Range in California: Dark Blue

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the other Ensatina subspecies

Dot-locality Range Map







Adult, Mt. Palomar, San Diego County
Adult, San Diego County
© Jason Jones
Adult, San Diego County
© Brad Alexander
Underside of Adult, San Diego County
Adult, Mt. Palomar, San Diego County
Pale-blotched Adult, (Possibly an intergrade with the Yellow-blotched
Ensatina
) 5,500 ft., Mt. San Jacinto, Riverside County
 
Hybrid with E. e. eschscholtzii, San Diego County © Brad Alexander
Aberrant Adult, or hybrid, San Diego County © Anthony Mercieca
 
Habitat
Habitat, San Diego County


Habitat, 5,000 ft. San Diego County
Habitat, 5,000 ft. San Diego County
 
 
 
Habitat, 4,700 ft, San Diego County
 
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 blackish above with large orange or pinkish blotches and coloring on the base of the limbs and a gray venter. The eyes are dark with no yellow markings.
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
The Large-blotched Ensatina is found in in the peninsular ranges of southern California and part of the eastern San Bernardino Mountains. Isolated populations occur in the San Pedro de Martir Mountains and the Sierra Juarez of northern Baja California. (Grismer, 2002) Old sightings from the San Gabriel Mountains have not been confirmed. It intergrades with the Yellow-blotched Ensatina in the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains.

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
Coexists with E. e. eschscholtzii in the Peninsular ranges, hybridizing with it at some locations, including Mt. Palomar. Intergrades with E. e. croceater. 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)
A California Species of Special Concern.
Taxonomy
Family Plethodontidae Lungless Salamanders
Genus Ensatina Ensatinas
Species Eschscholtzii Ensatina
Subspecies


klauberi Large-blotched Ensatina
Original Description
Ensatina eschscholtzii - Gray, 1850 - Cat. Spec. Amph. Coll. Brit. Mus., Batr. Grad., p. 48
Ensatina eschscholtzii klauberi -Tanner, "1944" 1945 - Great Basin Nat., Vol. 5, p. 71, pl. 1, map

from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz

Meaning of the Scientific Name
Ensatina: Latin - sword shaped/similar to, possibly referring to the teeth.
eschscholtzii: honors Johann F. Eschscholtz.
klauberi: honors Laurence M. Klauber

from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz

Alternate Names
Ensatina klauberi - Large-blotched Ensatina (A full species)

Related California Salamanders
Monterey Ensatina
Oregon Ensatina
Painted Ensatina
Sierra Nevada Ensatina

Yellow-eyed Ensatina
Yellow-blotched Ensatina

More Information and References
Natureserve Explorer

California Dept. of Fish and Game

AmphibiaWeb

Speciation in Progress

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.

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.


Grismer, L. Lee. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California, Including Its Pacific Islands and the Islands in the Sea of Cortés. The University of California Press, 2002.

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.


Organization
Status Listing
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) None
California Endangered Species Act (CESA) None
California Department of Fish and Game DFG:SSC California Species of Special Concern
Bureau of Land Management None
USDA Forest Service USFS:S Sensitive
Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks G5 S2S3 Secure
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List




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