Black-Bellied Slender Salamader

Description:

Adults are 1 1/4 - 1 7/8 inches long (3.2 - 4.7 cm) from snout to vent. A small slim salamander with 18 - 21 costal grooves. Short limbs, a narrow head, long slender body, very long tail, and conspicuous costal and caudal grooves give this species the worm-like appearance typical of most Slender Salamanders. There are four toes on the front and hind feet, which is also typical of Slender Salamanders. (Other California salamanders have five toes on the hind feet.) The tail may be up to twice the body length on mainland adults, but only up to the body length on adults from Santa Cruz Island. Color above is dark brown or blackish with a reddish, brown, or tan dorsal stripe. The venter is dark with fine white speckling. 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.) Active on rainy or wet nights when temperatures are moderate, fall through spring. Retreats underground when the soil dries or when air temperature drops to near freezing. Found under rocks, logs, bark, and other debris. Typical of most Slender Salamanders, when disturbed, this salamander may coil up and remain still, relying on cryptic coloring to avoid detection. It might also uncoil quickly and spring away, repeatedly bouncing over the ground, or drop its tail to distract a predator. The tail is easily broken off, but it can be regenerated. Feeding behavior is not well known, but other Batrachoseps species are sit-and-wait predators that use a projectile tongue to catch prey.

Habitat:

Endemic to California. Found in mountains and valleys of the coast range from southern Monterey County south to the Santa Ana Mountains, including the Tehachapi, Santa Monica and San Gabriel Mountains east to Cajon Pass. Also found on Santa Cruz Island. Inhabits mostly oak woodlands but also found in chaparral, grasslands, streamsides, and oak and pine forests. Found under rocks, logs, bark, and other debris in moist areas. On Santa Cruz Island, occurs in streamside Eucalyptus forest, under coastal driftwood, in oak woodland, and in open grassland. South of the Tehachapi Mountains, this species is found mostly in moist mountain and foothills canyons. From sea level to around 8,200 ft. (2,500 m.)