A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Hydromantes platycephalus - Mount Lyell Salamander

Click on a picture for a larger view

Range in California: Red

Dot-locality Range Map

Adult, Tuolumne County

Juvenile, Tuolumne County

Adult, Tuolumne County

Adult, El Dorado County

Juvenile, Tuolumne County

Adult, Tuolumne County

Adult, El Dorado County

Juvenile, El Dorado County

Webbed rear foot

Adult, 8,200 ft. Placer County.
© Steve Zimmerman

Adult, Placer County © Will Richardson

Juvenile, Placer County
© Will Richardson

Sign at Half Dome, where Hydromantes habitat has been disturbed, Yosemite National Park, Mariposa County
© William Flaxington

Habitat

Habitat, 8,700 ft., El Dorado County

Habitat, 9,000 ft., Tuolumne County

Habitat, 8,200 ft. Placer County.
© Steve Zimmerman

Habitat, 8,400 ft., Placer County
© Will Richardson

Short Videos

An adult climbs up a rocky seep high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

A tiny juvenile in Tuolumne County.

Owens Valley Web-toed Salamander

(Oak Creek Salamander)

This salamander differs from Hydromantes platycephalus in color and habitat. It has been suggested that it is a different species, tentatively named the Owens Valley Web-toed Salamander (or Oak Creek Salamander.) This name is used by the California Department of Fish and Game, although it is recognized as Hydromantes platycephalus by most authorities.

Adult, Inyo County

Adults, Inyo County

Adult, Inyo County

Juvenile, Inyo County

Habitat

Habitat, 7,000 ft. Inyo County

Short Videos

An adult salamander crawls up and over a large wet rock and under another one next to an Inyo County creek.

An adult salamander is seen crawling down a large granite rock next to a creek in Inyo County.

Description

Size

Adults measure 1.7 - 3.5 inches long (4.4-9.0 cm) from snout to vent.

Appearance

A small stocky salamander with a short tail, webbed feet, and a flattened head and body and 12 costal grooves. The toes are webbed and the tail is short to aid in climbing. Nasolabial grooves are present. Dorsal surface usually granite colored. Ventral surface is dusky with white flecks. Young are dark with a greenish tinge.

Behavior and Natural History

A member of family Plethodontidae, the Plethodontid or Lungless Salamanders.
Lungless Salamanders breathe through their skin which requires them to live in damp environments on land and to move about on the ground only during times of high humidity. (In California, they do not inhabit streams or bodies of water, but they are capable of surviving for some time if they fall into water.)
Lungless salamanders are distinguished by their naso-labial grooves, which are vertical slits between the nostrils and upper lip that are lined with glands used in chemoreception. All California Lungless Salamanders lay eggs in moist places on land. The young hatch from the egg 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, as occurs with other types of salamanders.)Nocturnal and cold tolerant down to 35 degrees F. (2.0 C). Surface activity is from late April to early September. Salamanders probably move into below-ground microhabitats and remain inactive during winter freezes and summer droughts, but it's possible they remain active underground during the summer.

Adapted to climb easily over smooth steep rock surfaces using its webbed feet and tail for stability.

Several H. platycephalus were observed by G. Nafis and T. Burkhardt on May 18, 2001 at 9000 ft.elevation in Tuolumne County. The salamanders were actively foraging on steep rock faces wet from snowmelt at 12:00 AM with an air temperature of 40 degrees F.

Feeds by shooting out a very long sticky mushroom-like tongue very quickly to catch prey. You can see an example here.

Defense mechanisms include raising up the head and tail and flattening the body, producing sticky toxic skin secretions, and tightly coiling the body and tail and rolling downhill (the same escape tactic used by other Hydromantes species.)

Diet

Diet consists primarily of insects and other small invertebrates.

Reproduction and Young

Little is known about the breeding behavior of this species. Reproduction is terrestrial. Young hatch fully formed. Females presumably lay eggs in early summer. Apparent hatchlings have been found in summer.

Range

Endemic to California, with a fairly continuous range from the Sonora Pass area south to the Franklin Pass area, Tulare County along the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Low elevation records are from the Yosemite Valley, Mariposa County. Isolated populations occur at the Sierra Buttes, Sierra county, and Smith Lake, El Dorado County, Another isolated population was discovered in Blackwood Canyon in 2006. This is the first record from Placer County, filling in a major gap in the distribution of this salamander. The salamanders and habitat from this location are shown above.

Habitat

Associated with granite talus with water seeping through it, typically downslope from snowfields that melt well into the summer. Inhabits caves, granite boulders, rock fissures. rocky stream edges, and seepages from springs and melting snow. Frequents cliff faces, vertical cavern walls, and level ground. In the Yosemite Valley, H. platycephalus is found within the spray zones of several waterfalls and under moss on wet rock faces. Most locations tend to be open, not shaded.
At elevations of 4000-12,000 ft (1220 - 3660 m).

Taxonomic Notes

Discovered by accident in 1915 when salamanders were caught in traps used to survey for mammals on Mt. Lyell.

H. platycephalus is currently under genetic scrutiny and may actually represent a complex of two to three species. Macy and Pappenfuss (The Natural History of the White-Inyo Range Eastern California) have proposed that H. platycephalus occuring on the desert slope of the eastern Sierra Nevada are a distinct taxon, the Owens Valley Web-toed Salamander, but a formal description has not yet been published.

H. platycephalus is one of only three species (thus far) of Hydromantes in the United States, all of which are endemic to California, including H. brunus, and H. shastae. The only other members of the genus Hydromantes (now called Speleomantes by some researchers) occur in Italy and southern France. They are the only plethodontid salamanders found outside of the Americas. Why Hydromantes is found only in Europe and California is still an amazing biogeographical mystery, even though it is now accepted that the two populations are different, but similar, genera.

Conservation Issues (Conservation Status)

A California Species of Special Concern. There is no evidence to suggest that there have been recent changes to the population densities or range of this species.

Taxonomy
Family	Plethodontidae	Lungless Salamanders
Genus	Hydromantes	Web-toed Salamanders
Species	platycephalus	Mount Lyell Salamander
Original Description
Camp, 1916 - Univ. California Publ. Zool., Vol. 17, p. 11 from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
Meaning of the Scientific Name
Hydromantes: Greek - water/soothsayer or prophet. platycephalus: Greek - flat headed. from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
Alternate Names
Owens Valley Web-toed Salamander Oak Creek Salamander
Related California Salamanders
Shasta Salamander Limestone Salamander
More Information and References
Natureserve Explorer California Dept. of Fish and Game AmphibiaWeb Movies of Hydromantes feeding 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.

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. Salamanders from the eastern Sierra Nevada are listed separately by the CDF&G as Hydromantes sp. 1 Owens Valley web-toed salamander (AKA Oak Creek salamander.) Status listings for these salamanders are shown in red text.
Organization	Status Listing
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)	None
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)	None
California Department of Fish and Game	DFG:SSC DFG:SSC	California Species of Special Concern California Species of Special Concern
Bureau of Land Management	None
USDA Forest Service	None
Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks	G3 S3 G1QS1	Vulnerable Critically Imperilled
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List	IUCN:LC	Least Concern

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