San Marcos Salamander

Range

The range of this salamander is limited and can only be found in or around the source of the San Marcos Rivers in Texas.

Habitats

The San Marcos salamanders thrive in shallow, alkaline springs with algae and thick moss that can provide areas for hunting food and shelter from predators (mostly local fish). In cold seasons they shelter underneath logs underwater. Breeding occurs throughout and egg clutches are averagely made up of 20 jelly-covered eggs. The larvae resemble tadpoles and hatch after 24 days. This species of salamander is insectivorous but also eats arthropods, mollusks, and aquatic crustaceans.

Identification

The San Marcos salamander is a small, voiceless, earless, slender lungless salamander that is averagely 2 inches in length but can reach up to 3.25 inches. The limbs are short and it has 5 toes on its hind feet and the forefeet have 4. This salamander has 16-17 costal grooves and obvious gill fringes. The dorsal coloration is brown, the ventral color is a yellowish-white and the midline has flecks of pale yellow. The eyes are protruding. The males have less outlined mental and caudal hedonic glands compared to the females.

Learn more with Schechter Natural History's Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians