Ensatina facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ensatina |
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| Monterey Ensatina | |
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Ensatina
Gray, 1850
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E. eschscholtzii
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Ensatina is a genus of lungless salamanders. They are a complex of subspecies of Ensatina eschscholtzii, found in forests in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California and Baja California, Mexico.
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Ring species
The Ensatina salamander is a ring species in the mountains around the Californian Central Valley. The complex forms a horseshoe shape around the mountains. Though interbreeding can happen between each of the 19 populations around the horseshoe, the Ensatina eschscholtzii subspecies on the western end of the horseshoe cannot interbreed with the Ensatina klauberi on the eastern end. It is an illustration of "nearly all stages in a speciation process" (Dobzhansky). Richard Highton argued that Ensatina is a case of multiple species and not a continuum of one species.
Subspecies
- Yellow Blotched Ensatina — E. e. croceater (Cope, 1868)
- Monterey Ensatina — E. e. eschscholtzii Gray, 1850
- Large Blotched Ensatina — E. e. klauberi Dunn, 1929
- Oregon Ensatina — E. e. oregonensis (Girard, 1856)
- Painted Ensatina — E. e. picta Wood, 1940
- Sierra Nevada Ensatina — E. e. platensis (Jiménez de la Espada, 1875)
- Yellow Eyed Ensatina — E. e. xanthoptica Stebbins, 1949
Images for kids
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Ensatina eschscholtzii klauberi, the large-blotched ensatina
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E. eschscholtzii eschscholtzi, the Monterey ensatina
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E. e. platensis from Fresno County, California
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See also
In Spanish: Ensatina eschscholtzii para niños
