Limestone Salamander

About the Limestone Salamander

The limestone salamander (Hydromantes brunus) is a member of the lungless salamander family. Discovered in 1952, this species belongs to a genus endemic to California. It is endemic to a portion of the Merced River Canyon in Mariposa County, California.

The limestone salamander has a flattened body, head, webbed toes, and a short tail. It is typically 5.0-7.5 cm in length. Adults are brownish with a pale ventral surface; the male has oval-shaped mental gland. The species was originally thought to be life-birthing, but is now known to lay eggs. Young hatch in the egg and emerge fully formed, with no larval stage. They are yellowish greenish, darkening with age. Like all lungless salamanders, it respires through its skin.

The genus Hydromantes is endemic to California. The limestone salamander occurs only in the Lower Merced River drainage, in several disparate localities, at elevations of 300–760 m in inhabits canyon slopes that are greater than 35 degrees. Habitats include moss-covered limestones outcroppings, chaparral, under rocks and logs in moist environments. During dry weather it stays underground in caves and rock crevices.

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