Aneides ferreus

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AMPHIBIA	CAUDATA	PLETHODONTIDAE

Scientific Name:

Aneides ferreus

Species Authority:

Cope, 1869

Common Name/s:

English

–

Clouded Salamander

Taxonomic Notes:

Aneides vagrans was formerly included in this species.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Near Threatened ver 3.1
Year Published:	2004
Assessor/s:	Geoffrey Hammerson
Reviewer/s:	Global Amphibian Assessment Coordinating Team (Simon Stuart, Janice Chanson, Neil Cox and Bruce Young)
Contributor/s:
Justification: Listed as Near Threatened because this species is in significant decline (but at a rate of less than 30% over ten years) because it is being adversely affected by widely practiced forest management practices, making the species close to qualifying for Vulnerable.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species has a patchy distribution from Del Norte and Siskiyou Counties, California, north through western Oregon to the Columbia River, USA (Jackman 1998).
Countries:	Native: United States
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	It is generally scarce, but locally common. However, current forest management practices are causing declines.
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	This species inhabits moist coniferous forests (such as redwood, Douglas fir, western hemlock, and Port Orford cedar forests), in forest edges, forest clearings, talus, and burned-over areas. It is usually found under bark, in rotten logs, or in rock crevices, and it may aggregate in decayed logs in summer. The downed logs that it inhabits are large (greater than 50cm in diameter), and of mid-decay classes with sloughing bark (Thomas et al. 1993). This species also sometimes climbs high into trees. It lays its direct-developing eggs in cavities in rotten logs, in rock crevices, under bark, or among vegetation. Welsh and Wilson (1995) reported a clutch of Aneides ferreus or A.vagrans eggs that had been deposited in a fern clump at the base of a limb 30-40m above the ground in a large redwood tree.
Systems:	Terrestrial

Habitat and Ecology:

This species inhabits moist coniferous forests (such as redwood, Douglas fir, western hemlock, and Port Orford cedar forests), in forest edges, forest clearings, talus, and burned-over areas. It is usually found under bark, in rotten logs, or in rock crevices, and it may aggregate in decayed logs in summer. The downed logs that it inhabits are large (greater than 50cm in diameter), and of mid-decay classes with sloughing bark (Thomas et al. 1993). This species also sometimes climbs high into trees. It lays its direct-developing eggs in cavities in rotten logs, in rock crevices, under bark, or among vegetation. Welsh and Wilson (1995) reported a clutch of Aneides ferreus or A.vagrans eggs that had been deposited in a fern clump at the base of a limb 30-40m above the ground in a large redwood tree.

Systems:

Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	This species is threatened by intensive, short-rotation logging practices that result in increasing scarcity of coarse woody debris on the forest floor (Corn and Bury 1991). These salamanders may thrive initially after logging but then decline as stumps and logs decay and critical microhabitats are eliminated (Petranka 1998).

Major Threat(s):

This species is threatened by intensive, short-rotation logging practices that result in increasing scarcity of coarse woody debris on the forest floor (Corn and Bury 1991). These salamanders may thrive initially after logging but then decline as stumps and logs decay and critical microhabitats are eliminated (Petranka 1998).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Protection of mature and old growth forests is the most important long-term conservation need for this species. The trend for increasing scarcity of required coarse woody debris on the forest floor might be counteracted to some degree by existing and proposed forest management plans for the Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis) and Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus; Thomas et al. 1993).

Conservation Actions:

Protection of mature and old growth forests is the most important long-term conservation need for this species. The trend for increasing scarcity of required coarse woody debris on the forest floor might be counteracted to some degree by existing and proposed forest management plans for the Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis) and Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus; Thomas et al. 1993).

Citation:	Geoffrey Hammerson 2004. Aneides ferreus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 25 May 2013.
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