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Santa Cruz Black Salamander Range Map






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Santa Cruz Black Salamander Juvenile

Home »» Salamanders & Newts »» Plethodontidae (Lungless Salamanders) »» Santa Cruz Black Salamander (Aneides niger)


Santa Cruz Black Salamander (Aneides niger)STATUS





Description: Adults measure 2 to 3 3/4 inches long from snout to vent, and up to 5.5 inches in total length. A medium-sized salamander with nasolabial grooves and well-defined costal grooves. Dorsal coloring is solid black, with a few fine white specks. Males have a broader head than females. Young are black with white speckles.


Habitat: Occurs in mixed deciduous woodland, coniferous forests, coastal grasslands. Found under rocks near streams, in talus, under damp logs, and other objects. Rarely encountered very far from water.


Range: This is the southernmost member of the A. flavipunctatus complex, and it is disjunct from all other members of the complex. It is restricted to the San Francisco Peninsula of California, where it inhabits San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and western Santa Clara counties.


Found in these States: CA


Diet: Diet consists of a variety of small invertebrates, including millipedes, ants and termites. As salamanders grow larger, they eat fewer, but larger prey items.


Reproduction: Reproduction is terrestrial. Courtship and breeding behavior is not well known. Breeding males have a well-developed mental gland. Females probably lay from 8 to 25 eggs in moist cavities belowthe ground in July and August. Eggs are attached by peduncles. Females stay with the eggs until they hatch. Young develop completely in the egg and hatch fully formed.


Status: Listed as Endangered because its extent of occurrence (EOO) is 4,687 km2, it occurs in five or fewer threat-defined locations, and there is continuing decline in the extent and quality of its habitat.


Taxonomy: Originally described by George S. Myers and Thomas P. Maslin in 1948 as a subspecies of the speckled black salamander (A. flavipunctatus), a 2019 taxonomic study found A. flavipunctatus to represent a species complex and A. niger to thus represent a distinct species, and reclassified it as such.

»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
   »» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
     »» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
       »» Class: Amphibia - (Amphibians)
         »» Order: Caudata - Salamanders
               »» Family: Plethodontidae - Lungless Salamanders
                   »» Genus: Aneides
                     »» Species: Aneides niger - Santa Cruz Black Salamander

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Santa Cruz Black Salamander", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.

 

 

 

 


Recommended Books at Amazon.com


Handbook of Salamanders: The Salamanders of the United States, of Canada, and of Lower California     Peterson Field Guide To Western Reptiles & Amphibians     Amphibian     Salamanders of the United States and Canada



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Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

 
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