(Edit: If you like the photos in this thread, then you'll adore these other photos)
This is a larval Ambystoma mavortium mavortium (Barred Tiger Salamander) from a pond on the High Plains of West Texas that I saw this weekend. This was my first real salamander field trip since I moved to the US in 2005. Where better to start than with one of my favourite species?
Over the weekend I saw only one adult (a beautifully marked individual - it was swimming in a ditch next to a large pond) but I failed to catch it for a photograph. I'm going to write an article based on this trip and possibly a few more trips to the same area over the next few months.
The larva is 95 mm in the photos. I'm quite intrigued by how much yellow pigmentation it has. I had never seen larval tiger salamanders in person before last weekend but from what I have seen in photos, they are generally marked more darkly?
This is a larval Ambystoma mavortium mavortium (Barred Tiger Salamander) from a pond on the High Plains of West Texas that I saw this weekend. This was my first real salamander field trip since I moved to the US in 2005. Where better to start than with one of my favourite species?
Over the weekend I saw only one adult (a beautifully marked individual - it was swimming in a ditch next to a large pond) but I failed to catch it for a photograph. I'm going to write an article based on this trip and possibly a few more trips to the same area over the next few months.
The larva is 95 mm in the photos. I'm quite intrigued by how much yellow pigmentation it has. I had never seen larval tiger salamanders in person before last weekend but from what I have seen in photos, they are generally marked more darkly?