I swept this little guy, dead and dried and covered with dust, out from under a kitchen cart.
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| A newt? He's 7 cm. long, curled as he is. |
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| The head, under my little microscope. Spotty. |
I think he may be a rough-skinned newt, Taricha granulosa; they have been seen near here. He's about the right size, the only colour he has left is a bit of orange on the underside, his feet are webbed, and there seems to be a ridge along his tail. Hard to be sure, he's so dried and shrivelled.
I welcome corrections!
UPDATE: He's a Wandering Salamander, Aneides vagrans. Identified by the shape of the foot.
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| One short toe, 4 long, blunt ends. |
I don't know how it was that he managed to get all the way into my kitchen, from the only entrance available to him; it's a long, dry walk for a thirsty critter!
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Esta pobre criatura apareció, muerta, debajo de un mueble en mi cocina. Mide 7 cm. de largo, así doblada como está, tal vez casi 10 si la enderezara. Pero está bien seca, y dura.
La segunda foto es la cabeza, tomada con mi microscopio estudiantil. Parece que tiene lunares o pecas.
Creo que es una salamandra de piel rugosa, las que se ven por aquí. El tamaño es correcto, y tiene todavía, aun muerta, un poco de color anaranjado en la parte inferior. Sus patas son palmeadas, y parece tener una pequeña cresta a lo largo de la cola. Es difícil estar segura, pues está tan seca, tan achicharrada.
CORRECCION: es una salamandra vagante, Aneides vagrans. Se pudo identificar por la forma de la pata. Subí una foto. Tiene un dedo corto, y 4 largos, y las puntas de los dedos están como cortados en linea recta.
No me imagino como es que llegó a mi cocina, tan lejos de su única puerta de entrada, ¡un camino largo y arduo para una criatura sedienta!
I've rehydrated dessicated frogs before...if you ever get stumped at identifying by a dried amphibian again, you may be impressed at how well rehydration restores their appearance.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about that. And then I dreamt last night that I was soaking the salamander in water, and he started to move. A bit spooky, in the dream, although I have done that many times with insects, and it often works. I've got little salamander soaking now in filtered water. Hope he doesn't get up and run away!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, I had a bunch of pacific tree frogs (or maybe their tadpoles...I don't remember) in an ice cream bucket that I forgot to move out of the sun, so they dried up. It rained a few days later, and at least one came back to life. I couldn't believe it, though it apparently does happen.
ReplyDeleteSo I soaked it. Two things happened: a bunch of dust that I hadn't been able to remove before floated off, and the toes that were all shrivelled up spread out. It does look better, but I've re-soaked it in alcohol to remove the water, and it's drying out again.
DeleteBut I discovered that on the front feet it only has 4 toes; on the back there are 5. I took photos, will post them once I process them.