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Adult, Del Norte County |
Adult (in defensive stance with defensive secretions on head and tail) and juvenile, Del Norte County |
Juvenile, Del Norte County |
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Adult, Del Norte County |
Adult, Del Norte County |
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Adult, Del Norte County |
Adult, Del Norte County |
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Adult, 5200 ft elevation on Young's Peak in far eastern Del Norte County © Alan Barron |
Adult, Del Norte County |
Underside, Del Norte County
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Adult, inland, 2,500 ft. Del Norte County © Alan Barron |
Adults, Lowland Redwoods, Del Norte County © Alan Barron |
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Adults, Lowland Redwoods, Del Norte County © Alan Barron |
Adults, Lowland Redwoods, Del Norte County © Alan Barron |
Adult, near sea level, Del Norte County © Alan Barron |
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Adult from Whaler Island, Del Norte County © Alan Barron |
Adult from Whaler Island, Del Norte County © Alan Barron |
Juvenile from Whaler Island, Del Norte County © Alan Barron |
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An unusual yellow adult from coastal sand dune forest, Del Norte County
© Alan Barron |
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Habitat |
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Habitat, Del Norte County
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Habitat, Del Norte County |
Habitat, Del Norte County |
Short Video |
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Adult and juvenile painted Painted Ensatina roam the redwood forest. One climbs up to the edge of a large downed log then jumps way down to the ground showing off its acrobatic skills. |
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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. The Painted Ensatina subspecies is smaller than other Ensatina subspecies - averaging about 2/3 their size. |
| 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 dark tan to brown above, with dark blotching along the upper sides, and yellow to orange blotching on the lower sides. The underside is pale orange or pinkish and the tail is mottled with black and yellow. |
| 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 Painted Ensatina subspecies occurs in a small range along the Pacific coast from extreme northwest California in Del Norte County, to extreme southwest Oregon in Curry County.
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. Found under rocks, logs, other debris, especially bark that has peeled off and fallen alongside 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 |
Robert Stebbins eliminated the range of the subspecies E. e. oregonensis (which he calls a "morphotype" not a subspecies) in California, showing a very large area of intergradation in California between E. e.picta and E. e. xanthoptica and E. e.picta and E.e. platensis. (Stebbins 2003)
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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picta |
Painted Ensatina |
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Original Description |
Ensatina eschscholtzii - Gray, 1850 - Cat. Spec. Amph. Coll. Brit. Mus., Batr. Grad., p. 48
Ensatina eschscholtzii picta - Wood, 1940 - Univ. California Publ. Zool., Vol. 42, No. 10, p. 425
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.
picta: Latin - painted or embroidered, referring to bright dorsal coloration.
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
Sierra Nevada 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
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.
Corkran, Charlotte & Chris Thoms. Amphibians of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Lone Pine Publishing, 1996.
Jones, Lawrence L. C. , William P. Leonard, Deanna H. Olson, editors. Amphibians of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle Audubon Society, 2005.
Leonard et. al. Amphibians of Washington and Oregon. Seattle Audubon Society, 1993.
Nussbaum, R. A., E. D. Brodie Jr., and R. M. Storm. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Pacific Northwest. Moscow, Idaho: University Press of Idaho, 1983.
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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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