 Range in California: Red
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Adult, Del Norte County |
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Adult, Del Norte County |
Adult, Del Norte County |
Adult, Del Norte County |
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Adult, Pacific county, Washington |
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Habitat |
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Habitat, 1200 ft., Del Norte County
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Habitat, 400 ft., Del Norte County |
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Click here to see more pictures of Dunn's Salamander from the Northwest.
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| Short Videos |
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| A Dunn's Salamander is found under a rock at the edge of a mountain stream in Oregon. |
Dunn's on the run. Like many salamanders when they move quickly, this one seems to hurl itself forward totally out of control while wriggling its long body from side to side.
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Description |
Size |
| 2 - 3 inches (5 - 7.6 cm) snout to vent length, up to 6 inches (15.4 cm) total length. |
| Appearance |
| A large elongated salamander usually with 15 costal grooves. Color is dark brown or black with an uneven-edged tan, yellow, or greenish yellow dorsal stripe which does not extend to the end of the tail. The stripe is flecked with dusky color which may conceal it. There are blotches of the dorsal stripe color on the sides. Dark unstriped melanistic individuals have been found with striped individuals. The belly is slatey with small yellowish orange spots. The tail is slightly flattened. Juveniles have a brighter and more even-edged dorsal stripe than adults. |
| 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.)Terrestrial. Can be active on rainy or wet nights any month of the year, but most surface activity is in Fall and Spring. During hot and dry conditions, salamanders move deep into rocky talus or rock cracks, or retreat to wetter streamside habitats where they can be abundant under wet streamside rocks. Farily tolerant of cold conditions, but probably goe underground during freezing conditions. May be active year-round in along the coast. Adults can quickly run for cover when disturbed, but sometimes they remain motionless to avoid detection.
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| Diet |
| Eats small invertebrates, including worms, centipedes, scorpions, millipedes, moths, mites, bees, wasps, ants, and beetles. |
| Reproduction and Young |
Little is known about mating and reproduction. Breeding is terrestrial. Females presumably lay and brood eggs underground in rocky habitats during spring and early summer, but this is not certain. Gravid females have been found year-round, and courtship might take place over an extended period. Juveniles hatch fully-formed probably in early Fall. One egg mass consisting of nine eggs in a grape-like cluster was found in Oregon on July 6th, 1952. |
| Range |
In California, found only in the Smith River area of northwest Del Norte County.
The total range of this species extends from southwest Washington, south along the Pacific Coast mountains into extreme northwest California, and in the Oregon Cascade Mountains south of the Columbia River. It is absent in the Washington Cascade Mountains. |
| Habitat |
| Associated with rocks, typically along stream banks, seepages and other aquatic sites in forests. Often found in the splash zone or under rocks and woody debris on shaded stream banks. Prefers semiaquatic locations, but often found away from water during the rainy season in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| No known issues. This species is found in old growth and logged forests, but is absent or reduced in clearcut forests. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Plethodontidae |
Lungless Salamanders |
| Genus |
Plethodon |
Woodland Salamanders |
Species
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dunni |
Dunn's Salamander |
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Original Description |
Bishop, 1934 - Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, Vol. 47, p. 169
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Plethodon: Greek - fullness or full of & teeth , refers to the number of vomerine & pre-vomerine teeth.
dunni: honors Emmett R. Dunn
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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Similar Neighboring Salamanders |
Del Norte Salamander
Siskiyou Mountains Salamander
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More Information and References |
AmphibiaWeb
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.
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.
There are no significant conservation concerns for this animal in California.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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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 Game |
None |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
None |
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| USDA Forest Service |
None |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
AmphibiaWeb
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