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Electronic Field Guide to the
Reptiles and Amphibians of
Southern California
Available Now at the
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Adult, Del Norte County |
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Adult with juvenile, Del Norte County |
Adult, Smith River, Del Norte County |
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Red-backed adult, Humboldt County |
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Juvenile, Del Norte County |
Juvenile, Del Norte County |
Juvenile, Smith River, Del Norte County |
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Adult, South Fork Smith River, Del Norte County |
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Adult from coastal redwood forest, Del Norte County © Alan Barron |
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Juveniles, Klamath River, Del Norte County © Alan Barron |
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Adult, Del Norte County |
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Habitat |
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Habitat, small forest creek,
Del Norte County |
Habitat, redwood forest,
Del Norte County |
Habitat, creek in redwood forest,
Del Norte County |
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Habitat, Smith River, Del Norte County
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Habitat, rocky talus, Del Norte County
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Habitat, Humboldt County |
Short Videos |
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Watch this salamander walk and get an overview of its habitat.
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Several Del Norte Salamanders run away and hide in typical salamander style. |
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Description |
Size |
| Adults are 2 3/8 - 3 inches long (6 - 7.6 cm) from snout to vent, and 4 1/3 - 6 inches (11 - 15 cm) in total length. |
| Appearance |
| A slender, elongated salamander with short limbs, nasolabial grooves, and usually 18 costal grooves with 5-6 intercostal folds between adpressed limbs. Toes are short and slightly webbed. Color is solid dark brown or black with an even-edged reddish brown dorsal stripe extending from the head to the tail tip. Often, especially with older animals, this stripe is missing and the body is solid brown or black. The belly is dark gray with light gray flecks. Juveniles resemble adults, but have more conspicuous dorsal stripes. |
| 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. Active on rainy or wet nights, fall through spring. Inactive in cold weather. Reported as inactive in summer, retreating far underground, but I have found them in shaded areas under wet streamside rocks in the dry summer months in coastal redwood forest.
Recapture studies have shown that P. elongatus moves very little in a single year - staying within a 7.5 square meter area.
Del Norte Salamanders are sit-and-wait predators, quickly jumping from a hiding spot to grab their prey. |
| Diet |
| Eats small invertebrates, including termites, mites, beetles, and springtails. |
| Reproduction and Young |
| Not much is known about the breeding behavior of this species. Breeding is terrestrial, and probably occurs in fall and spring. Females most likely lay eggs in underground nests, probably under rocky talus, in spring or early summer and brood them until fall. Young hatch fully formed and typically remain underground until the following spring. Eggs have been found at the base of a redwood fence post. There were 10 eggs in a grape-like cluster. Two adult females were found with 10 to 11 eggs. (Stebbins.) It is presumed that females brood their eggs. |
| Range |
| Found along the coast in far northwest California from near Orick, Humboldt County, east to near the Seiad Valley, Sisiyou county and Salyer, Trinity County, and north into southwestern Oregon where they have been found inland along West Cow Creek in Douglas County. (Photo.) |
| Habitat |
| Terrestrial, strongly associated with moist talus in humid shaded and closed-canopy coastal forests of mixed hardwoods and conifers, but also found in rock rubble of old riverbeds, and under bark and logs on forest floor, usually in rocky areas. Especially attracted to older forests. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
Some herpetologists name this salamander P. e. elongatus, a subspecies of P. elongatus, making the interior form, the Siskiyou Mountains Salamander, P. e. stormi. Others recognize P. stormi as a separate species as we do here.
Genetic diversity has been found to be highest in inland and southern populations. Recent genetics studies have determined that the Del Norte Salamander consists of two lineages at the southern end of its range which are different from populations north of Humboldt County. These lineages might be described as new species in the near future. (Hartwell, et. al, 2005.) |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| A California Species of Special Concern. May be in decline in areas which have been logged, especially at locations inland from the coast and at the southern edge of their range, where populations are more fragmented, making them more vulnerable to extirpation. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Plethodontidae |
Lungless Salamanders |
| Genus |
Plethodon |
Woodland Salamanders |
Species
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elongatus |
Del Norte Salamander |
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Original Description |
Van Denburgh, 1916 - Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, Vol. 6, No. 7, p. 216
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.
elongatus: Latin - slender, attenuated.
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Plethodon elongatus elongatus - Striped Del Norte Salamander
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Similar Neighboring Salamanders |
Plethodon stormi - Siskiyou Mountains Salamander
Plethodon dunni - Dunn's Salamander
Plethodon asupak - Scott Bar Salamander
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
AmphibiaWeb
Hartwell H. Welsh, Jr. - Jones, Lawrence L. C. , William P. Leonard, Deanna H. Olson, editors. Amphibians of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle Audubon Society, 2005.
Stebbins, Robert C., and McGinnis, Samuel M. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Revised Edition (California Natural History Guides) University of California Press, 2012.
Stebbins, Robert C. California Amphibians and Reptiles. The University of California Press, 1972.
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 by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
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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 Wildlife |
DFG:SSC |
California Species of Special Concern |
| Bureau of Land Management |
None |
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| USDA Forest Service |
None |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
G4 S3 |
Apparently Secure |
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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IUCN:NT |
Near Threatened |
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