The Scott Bar salamander (''Plethodon asupak'') is a species of

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten ...

in the family

Plethodontidae Plethodontidae, or lungless salamanders, are a family of salamanders. Most species are native to the Western Hemisphere, from British Columbia to Brazil, although a few species are found in Sardinia, Europe south of the Alps, and South Korea. In ...

, endemic to the United States, where it is restricted to a very small range in the

Scott River The Scott River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 9, 2011 river in Siskiyou County, California, United States. It is a tributary of the Klamath River, one of the ...

drainage in

Siskiyou County, California Siskiyou County (, ) is a county in the northernmost part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,076. Its county seat is Yreka and its highest point is Mount Shasta. It falls within the Cascadia bioregion ...

, at altitudes between above sea level. Described in 2005, it is one of the most recently described species in the large genus ''Plethodon''.

Description

''P. asupak'' is a moderate-sized, robust salamander with long limbs growing to a snout-to-vent length of for males and for females. It has a broad brown or bronze dorsal stripe and is otherwise purplish-gray with white flecks that condense on the sides and limbs into larger patches. The underparts are dark gray or purplish mottled with paler gray and flecked with white. It frequently has gold spotting on its otherwise black irises. Juveniles have paired, reddish dorsal stripes.

Distribution and habitat

A species endemic to California, it inhabits shaded, moss-covered talus slopes in old-growth mixed evergreen and montane fir forests of the Klamath Mountain Range. It was discovered in 2001, and is currently known from a few locations near the confluence of the

Klamath Klamath may refer to: Ethnic groups *Klamath people, a Native American people of California and Oregon **Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized group of tribes in Oregon *Klamath language, spoken by the Klamath people Places in the United States * ...

and

s, hence its common name Scott Bar salamander. Its range is only 20 km (13 mi) at its greatest dimension. Known elevations extend from above sea level.

Status

With a very restricted range and a habitat requirement for old-growth forest, this salamander is threatened by logging which is allowed, under certain circumstances, inside the national forest it inhabits. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed it as being an endangered species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1594616 Plethodon Amphibians described in 2005 Amphibians of the United States Endemic fauna of California Taxonomy articles created by Polbot