THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY
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Amphibia    Caudata    Ambystomatidae  

California Tiger Salamander
Ambystoma californiense Gray, 1853
AM-bis-TOH-mah — cal-ih-FOR-nee-en-say

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

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Occurrences:; 1,546 Total; 807 Museum; 739 Other
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Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH. - (Version: 2026.05.14.13.24.27)
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its geographic range.
Ambystoma — Greek amblys = "blunt" + stoma = "mouth"
californiense — Latinized toponym = "from California"

First instance(s) of published English names:
California Salamander (Amblystoma californicum: Cooper, James G. 1869. The fauna of California and its geographical distribution. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 4():61-81); California Axolotl (Amblystoma mavortium californiense: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum californiense: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma californiense: Collins, Joseph T., James E. Huheey, James L. Knight, and Hobart M. Smith. 1978. Standard common and current scientific names for North American amphibians and reptiles. Herpetological Circulars (7):36);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
Amphibian Species of the World
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1853 Gray, John E. On a new species of salamander from California. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1853(11):11
1958 Tihen, Joseph A. Comments on the osteology and phylogeny of ambystomatid salamanders. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 3(1):1-50
1966 Gehlbach, Frederick R. Types and type-localities of some taxa in the synonymy of Ambystoma tigrinum (Green). Copeia 1966(4):881-882
1967 Gehlbach, Frederick R. Ambystoma tigrinum. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (52):1-4
1969 Tihen, Joseph A. Ambystoma. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (75):1-4
1980 Collins, James P., J. B. Mitton, and B. A. Pierce. Ambystoma tigrinum: A multispecies conglomerate? Copeia 1980(4):938-941

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Saturday 15 August 2026 08:08 CT