Santa Cruz long-toed salamander facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Santa Cruz long-toed salamander |
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| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Urodela |
| Family: | Ambystomatidae |
| Genus: | Ambystoma |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: |
A. m. croceum
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| Trinomial name | |
| Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum Russell & Anderson, 1956
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The Santa Cruz long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum) is a special type of long-toed salamander. It is an endangered animal, meaning it is at risk of disappearing forever. You can only find it in a few small areas near ponds in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties in California.
This salamander has a black body with bright yellow or orange stripes that look a bit broken along its back. It also has a tail fin that helps it swim really well. Like other mole salamanders, it lives near ponds or slow-moving streams. It's quite shy and secretive, which makes it hard to spot!
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What Makes This Salamander Special?
The Santa Cruz long-toed salamander lives far away from other types of long-toed salamanders (A. macrodactylum). There are over 240 kilometers (150 miles) between them! The closest other type, called A. m. sigillatum, lives much further north. But our Santa Cruz salamander only lives in a few separate ponds in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties.
Like other long-toed salamanders, its belly is dark brown. It also has small bumps, called tubercles, on its feet. A key difference is the stripe on its back: the Santa Cruz salamander has a broken, uneven yellow stripe, while the common long-toed salamander has a more regular, straight yellow stripe. Both types have 12 or 13 grooves on their sides, which look like ribs. Scientists have found that the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander's DNA is a bit different from other coastal long-toed salamanders.
Both types of salamanders lay their eggs one by one near the water's surface, often on plants. Sometimes they lay small groups of eggs at the bottom of logs or on plants in deeper water. When the larvae (baby salamanders) hatch, they are about 10 mm long. In their first summer, they grow to 50 to 100 mm. The Santa Cruz long-toed salamander is usually a bit smaller. Both types of salamanders move to and from their breeding ponds at night when it's raining.
Discovery at Valencia Lagoon
The Santa Cruz long-toed salamander was first officially discovered on December 2, 1954. It was found in a place called Valencia Lagoon by R.W. Russell and James Anderson. This small lagoon in Aptos, California, was full of cattails. It was about 30 meters by 150 meters (100 feet by 500 feet) back then.
Later, in 1968, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) filled in half of the lagoon to make State Route 1 wider. In 1974, a study looked at the lagoon to help the salamanders breed and move around better. This study also said that Valencia Lagoon needed to be protected forever. The State of California later bought the lagoon to keep it safe. The study also noticed that dirt from the highway was getting into the lagoon. They hoped this would stop once plants grew back on the slopes. This study also helped Santa Cruz County plan how to protect the area around the lagoon.
Life Cycle of the Salamander
Most adult Santa Cruz long-toed salamanders spend their lives in coast live oak forests. They hide in small animal burrows during the long, dry season, which lasts from May to October in coastal California.
When winter rains arrive and soak the ground, both male and female salamanders start moving. They can travel up to 2 kilometers (about 1.2 miles) to reach ponds that only exist in winter. In January, the males arrive at the ponds first. They get ready for a special nighttime courtship dance. After the male and female finish their courtship, the male leaves a packet of sperm, called a spermatophore, in the water. The female then picks it up and uses it to fertilize her eggs. She might lay her eggs one by one or in small groups of six to eight eggs. She places them in shallow water, about 5–8 cm (2–3 inches) deep.
Neither parent takes care of the eggs. The eggs hatch into tadpoles in March. These tadpoles then go through metamorphosis (a big change) into adult salamanders when the pond starts to dry up. The tadpoles often eat tiny creatures called copepods. Animals that eat young salamanders include water invertebrates, garter snakes, and other vertebrates. Other types of salamander tadpoles also compete for food with the long-toed salamander tadpoles.
Most long-toed salamander breeding ponds dry up completely in the summer. Ponds that stay wet all year often have frogs, fish, and other animals that eat young salamanders. So, these salamanders prefer ponds that dry up. Most long-toed salamanders move into nearby forests once they become adults and the pond is dry. However, young Santa Cruz long-toed salamanders often stay near their breeding pond during their first summer. They might hide in a rodent burrow or a crack in a rock. They only move uphill into the forest later. This might be because the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander's breeding ponds often keep water all summer.
Why This Salamander Needs Our Help
The Santa Cruz long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum) was listed as an endangered animal by the U.S. government in 1967. California also listed it as endangered in 1971. It is also considered "Critically Imperiled" globally and in California by NatureServe.
Because it lives in such a small area and needs a very specific type of habitat, this salamander is very vulnerable. There isn't an exact count of how many Santa Cruz long-toed salamanders are left, but scientists believe the numbers are quite low. If its limited habitat is disturbed any more, this special salamander could become extinct.
- J.D. Anderson, A Comparison of the Food Habits of Ambystoma macrodactylum sigillatum, Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum and Ambystoma tigrinum californiense, Herpetologica 24: 273–284. 1968.
- John L. Behler, Field Guide to North American Amphibians, National Audubon Society. 1996.
- L.G. Talent and C.L. Talent A Population of the Endangered Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander (Ambystoma macrocactylum croceum) Monterey County, California, California Department of Fish and Game. 66: 184–186. 1980.
- R.C. Stebbins, A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin. 1985.
- S.B. Ruth, The Life History and Current Status of the Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander, Proceedings of California Herpetology. H.F. DeLisle, P.R. Brown, B. Kaufman, B.M. McGurty, editors, Southwestern Herpetologists Society.
