Newt Found on trail

Hi everyone,

I hope this is the right forum to post this in. My daughter and I were hiking San Mateo county, California, near the coast. We were on one of the trails when we spotted this little guy walking along the trail, too. I got down on the ground and shot a bunch of photos (one of which ought to be below, if I figured out the attachment feature right). He posed so nicely!

I had no idea what sort of a newt or salamander he was... but I have since looked online and I think that he is either a Taricha granulosa; Rough-skinned Newt or a Taricha torosa; California Newt. I found this forum and registered in the hope that someone could help me identify him. Of course I never dreamed of touching him... and I am glad I am not prone to doing things like that. Both of those species are supposed to be chock full of tetrodotoxin. His body was the length of my palm plus one finger joint, if I don't include his tail.

Anyway, weather conditions were quite typical for this time of year in this microclimate. We had a big rainstorm a week ago, and it was drizzly yesterday, high winds and intermittant blowing fog today, although no more rain. The ground is not yet saturated. It was the sort of weather that made you feel bad for Gaspar de Portolá's expedition. (They arrived on this site in early November 1769.)

Any help in identifying this little guy would be much appreciated. And I apologize if this is not the right place to post this.

Regards,
Aardvark

Re: Newt Found on trail at Sweeney Ridge, CA

Well it's definitely Taricha but which one I couldn't tell ya. Do you have anymore pictures from different angles? I know that wasn't much help.

Re: Newt Found on trail at Sweeney Ridge, CA

My guess would be a dark T. granulosa.

Re: Newt Found on trail at Sweeney Ridge, CA

I'm attaching a few more photos below. I actually zoomed and cropped 5... let's see how many I can fit.

Aardvark

Greatwtehunter said:

Well it's definitely Taricha but which one I couldn't tell ya. Do you have anymore pictures from different angles? I know that wasn't much help.

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Well I couldn't get all photos attached to that last message, so here's the last one. I really zoomed in on his face.

Aardvark

Greatwtehunter said:

Well it's definitely Taricha but which one I couldn't tell ya. Do you have anymore pictures from different angles? I know that wasn't much help.

Click to expand...

The dark under-eye gives it away as a T. granulosa. T. torosa has a light under-eye, and T. rivularis has dark eyeballs.

Thank you!

I very much appreciate your help. (And sorry if I was too specific about the location.)

Aardvark

Kaysie said:

The dark under-eye gives it away as a T. granulosa. T. torosa has a light under-eye, and T. rivularis has dark eyeballs.

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