Taricha granulosa
Identification Tips:
Adults
• Unmistakable colouration: cholcolate brown back with bright orange belly
• Skin is rough. except in breeding males
• No webbing between toes
• 120-185 mm long
Conservation Status:
| British Columbia | Canada | Natureserve | |
| COSEWIC | Species at Risk Act | ||
| Not at Risk (Yellow List) | Not Assessed | None | G5, S4S5 |
Life History:
• Secrete a highly poisonous toxin from their skin when threatened
• Only predator is the Common Gartersnake which has evolved a resistance to the toxin
• Feed on a variety of invertebrates
• Breed in early spring in Fraser Valley, in fall or winter at higher elevations
• Courtship ritual is elaborate and may take several days to complete
• Single eggs are attached to vegetation or underside of rocks
• Larvae metamorphose in late summer in Fraser Valley
• Primarily terrestrial, but some populations retain larval gills and remain aquatic throughout their lives
Habitat:
• Most abundant in older mixed forests near permanent wetlands
• Occur from sea level to over 3000 m elevation
• Breed in shallow wetlands and slow moving streams
Range:
British Columbia
• Vancouver Island, Gulf Islands
• Entire Mainland coast north to Skeena River, extending far inland in major river valleys
Global
• West of Coast and Cascade Mountains from Anchorage Alaska to San Fransisco, California
Isolated population in Idaho
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Primary Information Sources:
Efauna BC: http://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/
BC Conservation Data Centre: http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/
