Plethodon vehiculum
Identification Tips:
Adults
• Continuous, broad stripe down back is usually red/orange, but may be yellowish or tan or even absent
• 14 to 18 grooves visible between ribs (usually 16)
• 80 to 115 mm long, half of which is tail
• Head long, with parallel sides, rounded snout
• Eyes protruding and well forward.
Conservation Status:
| British Columbia | Canada | Natureserve | |
| COSEWIC | Species at Risk Act | ||
| Not at Risk (Yellow List) | Not at Risk | None | G5, S4 |
Life History:
• A lungless salamander that breathes through its skin and the lining of the mouth
• May live for more than 10 years
• Feed on a variety of terrestrial invertebrates
• Nocturnal
• Females lay about 10 eggs in moist location on land in spring and brood them over summer
• Females do not breed every year
• Young emerge from nest in fall rains when 20 to 30 mm long and mature in 2 years.
• Active above ground from March to June and from September to November
Habitat:
• Entirely terrestrial, but often in riparian areas
• Rarely range more than a few meters
• Under rocks, logs and leaf litter of humid coniferous forests
• Damp talus and shaded ravines
• From sea level to 1250 m
Range:
British Columbia
• Vancouver Island, Fraser Valley, and mountains to north of it; Lillooet River to Pemberton
Global
• West side of Coast and Cascade Mountains from southwestern British Columbia to southwestern California
––––––
Primary Information Sources:
Efauna BC: http://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/
BC Conservation Data Centre: http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/
