California Tiger Salamander

The California tiger salamander is a mole salamander endemic to California, once treated as a subspecies of the tiger salamander but now recognized as its own species. It is a large, stocky salamander reaching about 7 to 8 inches, black with yellow or cream spots as an adult and greenish gray as a larva, with brown protruding eyes and black irises. It depends on vernal pools and seasonal ponds for breeding and now survives in three genetically distinct, geographically isolated population segments from Sonoma County south to Santa Barbara County, after historic range contraction out of the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys. Two of its population segments are federally endangered and the third is federally threatened, with habitat destruction, predation by introduced American bullfrogs, and hybridization with introduced barred tiger salamanders among the chief threats.