The currently accepted scientific name of the long-toed salamander is
Ambystoma macrodactylum Baird. It is in the mole salamander family,
Ambystomatidae [10,23,27]. Subspecies of the long-toed salamander are:
A. m. columbianum Ferguson, eastern long-toed salamander [5] A. m. croceum Ferguson, Santa Cruz long-toed salamander [9,27] A. m. krausei Peters, northern long-toed salamander [5] A. m. macrodactylum Baird, western long-toed salamander A. m. sigillatum, southern long-toed salamander [27]
When the species as a whole is discussed in this report, it will be
referred to by its common name, long-toed salamander. Subspecies will
be referred to by the subspecies common names listed above.
The long-toed salamander is distributed from southeastern Alaska and
northwestern British Columbia south through Washington and Oregon to
northeastern California and east to extreme western Alberta, the Idaho
panhandle, and western Montana [2,27]. Distribution of subspecies is
as follows[27]:
western long-toed salamander: Vancouver Island, British Columbia;
Coastal Ranges of Washington and Oregon
eastern long-toed salamander: southeastern Alaska and northern British
Columbia; central and eastern Washington;
north-central and northeastern Oregon;
western half of the Idaho panhandle
northern long-toed salamander: eastern British Columbia; extreme western
Alberta; western Montana; eastern half of
the Idaho panhandle
southern long-toed salamander: southwestern Oregon; northeastern
California
Santa Cruz long-toed salamander: a disjunct population known from only
3 locations in California - Ellicott
Pond State Wildlife Reserve, Santa Cruz
Co.; Valencia Lagoon, Santa Cruz Co.;
Elkhorn Slough, Monterey Co.
205 Mountain hemlock
206 Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir
207 Red fir
208 Whitebark pine
210 Interior Douglas-fir
211 White fir
212 Western larch
213 Grand fir
215 Western white pine
217 Aspen
218 Lodgepole pine
221 Red alder
222 Black cottonwood-willow
223 Sitka spruce
224 Western hemlock
225 Western hemlock-Sitka spruce
226 Coastal true fir-hemlock
227 Western redcedar-western hemlock
228 Western redcedar
229 Pacific Douglas-fir
230 Douglas-fir-western hemlock
233 Oregon white oak
234 Douglas-fir-tanoak-Pacific madrone
235 Cottonwood-willow
237 Interior ponderosa pine
243 Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
244 Pacific ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir
245 Pacific ponderosa pine
246 California black oak
247 Jeffrey pine
255 California coast live oak
256 California mixed subalpine
The long-toed salamander occupies a wide variety of habitats including
grassland, sagebrush (Artemisia spp.)-grassland, pinyon-juniper
(Pinus-Juniperus spp.) woodland, coniferous forest, and coast live oak
(Quercus agrifolia) woodland communities [1,5,6,7,30].
There are no data available on fire effects on salamanders. It is
likely that fire has little direct effect on long-toed salamanders.
Adults are rarely active above ground; when they are active, it is
usually under cool, moist weather conditions [13] that occur outside
the fire season. During the dry season, adult long-toed salamanders
are generally either in burrows, where they are relatively safe from
fire, or under moist rotten logs or moist vegetation mats that are not
likely to burn except except under extreme fire weather conditions.
If caught in the open during a fire, long-toed salamanders would
probably be killed. They are very slow-moving [2], and probably cannot
escape even slow-moving fire. Even if missed by fire, they probably
could not survive the heat. High temperatures are lethal to long-toed
salamanders. In the laboratory, adults from northeastern Oregon and
western Idaho were killed by water temperatures that ranged from above
91 to 96 degrees Fahrenheit (33-36 oC) [13].
Adult and subadult long-toed salamanders use logs and large branches for
cover, and larvae use floating and submerged downed woody debris of all
size classes for cover [2]. Fire that increases downed woody debris
while retaining some overhead shade probably improves habitat structure
of long-toed salamanders.
1. Anderson, James D. 1961. The courtship behavior of Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum. Copeia. 2: 132-139. [27244]
2. Anderson, James D. 1967. A comparison of the life histories of coastal and montane populations of Ambystoma macrodactylum in California. The American Midland Naturalist. 77(2): 323-355. [23174]
3. Anderson, James D. 1968. A comparison of the food habits of Ambystoma macrodactylum sigillatum, Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum, and Ambystoma tigrinum californiense. Herpetologica. 24(4): 273-284. [28328]
4. Beneski, John T., Jr.; Larsen, John H., Jr.; Miller, Brian T. 1995. Variation in the feeding kinematics of mole salamanders (Ambystomatidae: Ambystoma) Canadian Journal of Zoology. 73(2): 353-366. [28330]
5. Beneski, John T., Jr.; Zalisko, Edward J.; Larsen, John H., Jr. 1986. Demography and migratory patterns of the eastern long-toed salamander, Ambystoma macrodactylum columbianum. Copeia. 1986(2): 398-408. [23175]
6. Bernard, Stephen R.; Brown, Kenneth F. 1977. Distribution of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians by BLM physiographic regions and A.W. Kuchler's associations for the eleven western states. Tech. Note 301. Denver, CO: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 169 p. [434]
7. Bradford, David F.; Swanson, Christina; Gordon, Malcolm S. 1994. Effects of low pH and aluminum on amphibians at high elevation in the Sierra Nevada, California. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 72(7): 1272-1279. [28331]
8. Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p. [905]
9. Ferguson, Denzel E. 1961. The geographic variation of Ambystoma macrodactylum Barid, with the description of two new subspecies. The American Midland Naturalist. 65(2): 311-338. [27245]
10. Frost, Darrel R., ed. 1985. Amphibian species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Lawrence, KS: Allen Press, Inc. 732 p. [26535]
11. Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others]. 1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. [998]
12. Howard, James H.; Wallace, Richard L. 1985. Life history characteristics of populations of the long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum) from different altitudes. The American Midland Naturalist. 113(2): 361-373. [21751]
13. Howard, James H.; Wallace, Richard L.; Stauffer, Jay R., Jr. 1983. Critical thermal maxima in populations of Ambystoma macrodactylum from different elevations. Journal of Herpetology. 17(4): 400-402. [27246]
14. Kezer, James; Farner, Donald S. 1955. Life history patterns of the salamander Ambystoma macrodactylum in the high Cascade Mountains of southern Oregon. Copeia. 2: 127-131. [28332]
15. Knudsen, Jens W. 1960. The courtship and egg mass of Ambystoma gracile and Ambystoma macrodactylum. Copeia. 1: 44-46. [28333]
16. Kuchler, A. W. 1964. United States [Potential natural vegetation of the conterminous United States]. Special Publication No. 36. New York: American Geographical Society. 1:3,168,000; colored. [3455]
17. Leonard, William P.; Richter, Klaus O. 1994. Western long-toed salamander demographics and oviposition in a small vernal wetland of the Puget Sound lowlands. Northwest Science. 68(2): 135. [28334]
18. Munger, James C.; Peterson, Charles. 1993. A preliminary survey of the herpetofauna of Bruneau Resource Area, Boise District. Tech. Bulletin No. 93-2. Boise, ID: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Idaho State Office. 34 p. [23681]
19. Oliver, James A. 1955. The natural history of North American amphibians and reptiles. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc. 359 p. [28336]
20. Russell, Anthony P.; Powell, G. Lawrence; Hall, Dean R. 1996. Growth and age of Alberta long-toed salamanders (Ambystoma macrodactylum krausei): a comparison of two methods of estimation. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 74: 397-412. [27247]
21. Russell, R. W.; Anderson, James D. 1956. A disjunct population of the long-nosed salamander from the coast of California. Herpetologica. 12: 137-140. [23227]
22. Schaub, David L.; Larsen, John H., Jr. 1978. The reproductive ecology of the Pacific treefrog (Hyla regilla). Herpetologica. 34(4): 409-416. [27248]
23. Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A checklist of North American amphibians and reptiles. 6th ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; American Society of Icthyologists and Herpetologists. 280 p. [24389]
24. Semlitsch, Raymond D. 1983. Burrowing ability and behavior of salamanders of the genus Ambystoma. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 61: 616-620. [28335]
25. Shiflet, Thomas N., ed. 1994. Rangeland cover types of the United States. Denver, CO: Society for Range Management. 152 p. [23362]
26. State of California, Department of Fish and Game, Natural Heritage Division, Natural Diveristy Data Base. 1995. Endangered and threated animals of California. [Sacramento, CA]. 13 p. [24904]
27. Stebbins, Robert C. 1985. Western reptiles and amphibians. 2nd ed. Peterson Field Guides No. 16. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 336 p. [22647]
28. The Network of Natural Heritage Programs and Conservation Data Centers and The Nature Conservancy. 1994. Element distribution - North America, vertebrates. Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy, Central Conservation Databases. 31 p. [23374]
29. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. 1994. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants. 50 CFR 17.11 & 17.12. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. 42 p. [24413]
30. Verner, Jared; Boss, Allan S., tech. coords. 1980. California wildlife and their habitats: western Sierra Nevada. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-37. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 439 p. [10237]
31. Walls, Susan C.; Beatty, Joseph J.; Tissot, Brian N.; [and others]. 1993. Morphological variation and cannibalism in a larval salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum columbianum). Canadian Journal of Zoology. 71: 1543-1551. [27249]
32. Williams, Thomas A.; Larsen, John H., Jr. 1986. New function for the granular skin glands of the eastern long-toed salamander, Ambystoma macrodactylum columbianum. Journal of Experimental Zoology. 239: 329-333. [23176]
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