Please confirm these species

As I mentioned in my introduction post, I'm here because I want to learn more about the newts that swarm my yard when it rains and potentially snag some to keep indoors.

I believe these are T Rivularis (black and red) and T granulosa (brown and yellow). Can I get a confirmation on that?

These photos were taken this morning (4/7/2015) about 60 miles north of San Francisco. I have been anxiously waiting for more rain to our drought stricken area, partly to fill our well, but recently so I could get some pics of these guys.

Thanks for the input.

Worth noting that we regularly see both of these species, but the vast majority, 20 to 1 at least, are the red bellied. Also, I put the pencil there for size comparison, I may just have been noticing them more today, but I feel like there were many more tiny/small newts today than usual (could be time of year).

Yes, I believe the ones with the red bellies are T. rivularis, and the newt in the last picture is T. granulosa.
As for the drought, I know how you feel. Without enough rains in the area, the salamanders/newts in CA are getting harder to find. The newts need the rain to breed.

The first pictures are of Taricha rivularis, the last picture is actually Taricha torosa, not Taricha granulosa. Notice the yellow coloration underneath the eye, in T. granulosa this would be darker - the same color as the back. Also, notice how the eyes are more bug eyed, bulging from the head more, this is characteristic of T. torosa and not T. granulosa. -Seth

Thanks for correcting me Seth, I didn't realize the eyes could tell the difference between T. torosa and T. granulosa.

Thanks so much for the ID. I just did a little googling, is there any way to tell the difference between T torosa and T seirrae? If I am reading this correctly, I live in an area (the fuchsia spot north of SF bay) with both and they are nearly identical in appearance and range.

beberly37 said:

Thanks so much for the ID. I just did a little googling, is there any way to tell the difference between T torosa and T seirrae? If I am reading this correctly, I live in an area (the fuchsia spot north of SF bay) with both and they are nearly identical in appearance and range.

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T. torosa does not live in your area. Are you thinking of T. rivularis?

I figured it out after staring at the maps for a while. On this site, they use the same map for T torosa and T sierrae, with different colors, I just thought they had very similar ranges.

On the attached map, red is T torosa and orange is T sierrae, I'm the green dot, so its definitely T torosa as Seth pointed out.

The rain stopped Tuesday, but I did see a straggler yesterday and one this morning. We've got a little rain in the forecast next week, but this was probably the last time I'll see these fellas until fall/winter.

I've been pondering going down to the creek at the bottom of our hill to look for eggs, but there sure is a ton of poison oak down there.