Hydromantes platycephalus and habitat

[mike]

Hey Folks,

I thought some of you might enjoy some photos taken in may this year. These were taken on the east side of the Sierra Nevada in California. For those not familiar with this area, the east side is a dry, harsh environment. This makes it particularly exciting to find salamanders in fast, cold streams there.

First, here's a Hydromantes platycephalus we found:

A close up on the webbed toes:

Habitat shots:

 

[william]

i thought Hydromantes was a european genus...

 

[ester]

This might give some insight in the genus. See:
http://www.herp.it/indexjs.htm?SpeciesPages/note1.htm

 

[russ]

Great pics. Have they decided whether or not to split off the eastern populations into a new species or sub?

RUSS

 

[mike]

That's interesting about Speleomantes vs. Hydromantes. I was not aware of this controversy. Just about everything I've read has used Hydromantes. For those interested, here is a more full description of the history of Hydromantes vs. Spelomantes. The site you posted Ester just had a small quote cut from the orignial AMNH page:

http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/references.php?id=22467

All the more reason to go rank-free with taxonomy and stop worrying about things like 'genera'.

Russ, thanks for the kind words about the photos. I have heard that there is a big clear break between eastern and western groups. However, I don't think that it has been published yet.

Mike

 

[mike]

PS - William, there are 3 (maybe 4) species of Hydromantes in California.

For more on them see Petranka's great book. There is also a lot on the web -

http://www.californiaherps.com/salamanders/salamanders.html

 

[ester]

I totally forgot to mention my thanks for sharing those wonderful pictures with us! I got a bit lost in the genera controversy.. made me wonder if it's anything like the "triturus viridescens" thing.

Anyways.. thanks, they're really nice pictures. I believe the CC pages could still use some! When i looked into the "european" and "american" species I noticed there weren't any pictures present for Hydromantes platycephalus.

 

[jennifer]

Thanks for posting the pictures, Mike, and thanks for the tip, Ester. Mike has been willing to share his pix for CC in the past, so he probably won't mind if they show up over there.

 

[mike]

Hi Ester, glad you liked them, thanks.

Hi Jennifer, feel free to use them if you'd like.

 

[frank]

Nice pictures! Where did you find them? Near the streamside? In Europe, the Speleomantes (or Hydromantes, as you like)can be locally really abundant during spring and autumn in damp places.

 

[mike]

Thanks Frank. The H. platycephalus are usually associated with fast streams, snowmelt areas, and waterfall splash zones. This one we found was under a couple rocks right next to the stream.