Plethodon elongatus
—
Del Norte Salamander
Boy Scout Tree Trail, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Del Norte County, California—July 24, 2001
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Boy Scout Tree Trail is a beautiful dark old-growth redwood forest trail. Somewhere in the middle of it, there's a short steep side trail that leads to the eponymous Boy Scout Tree. On that short steep trail, near the Tree itself, I found this little squirmer under a rotten log.
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I initially identified these two salamanders as Speckled Black Salamanders, but Joshua Puhn of northwestherps.com convinced me that they are really Del Norte Salamanders. Thanks Joshua!
I found these two within about thirty feet of each other, one under a small piece of bark and one under a medium-sized log.
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Here's a couple more of these fairly nondescript salamanders just across the California/Oregon border.
Printed references:
- Behler, J. L., King, F. W. 1979. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles & Amphibians
- Corkran, C. C., Thoms, C. R. 1996. Amphibians of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia: A Field Identification Guide
- Crother, B. I. (ed.) 2017. Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, Eighth Edition
- Petranka, J. W. 1998. Salamanders of the United States and Canada
- Stebbins, R. C. 2003. Peterson Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition