THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Caudata    Salamandridae  

California Newt
Taricha torosa (Rathke in Eschscholtz, 1833)
tah-REE-kah — toh-ROH-sah

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

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.07.25.16.41.32)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.44 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
A terrestrial-breeding newt with a twisted feature referenced in its name.
Taricha — Possibly from Greek tarichos (ταρίχος), meaning “preserved fish” or “pickled meat,” perhaps referring to the rough, dry skin texture of these newts when on land.
torosa — From Latin torosus, meaning “muscular” or “bulging.” Another interpretation is from torus or torquere, meaning “twist,” possibly referencing the body form or mating embrace.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Captain Beechy's Salamander (Salamandra beechii: Gray, John E. 1830. A synopsis of the species of the class reptilia. Pages 1-110 in The Animal Kingdom Arranged in Conformity with its Organization by the Baron Cuvier, member of teh Institute of France, with Additional Descriptions of all the Species Hitherto Named, and of many not before noticed. Ninth Volume. Whittaker, Treacher, and Company, London, England. pp.); Warty Salamander (Taricha torosa: Cooper, James G., George Suckley, William Cooper, George Gibbs, Asa Gray, and John L. Le Conte. 1859. The natural history of Washington territory, with much relating to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon, and California, between the thirty-sixth and forty-ninth parallels of latitude, being those parts of the final reports on the survey of the Northern Pacific railroad route, containing the climate and physical geography, with full catalogues and descriptions of the plants and animals collected from 1853 to 1857. Bailliere Bros., London, H. Bailliere;, New York, New York. pp.); Pacific Water Lizard (Diemyctylus torosus: 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); Giant Newt (Notophthalmus torosus: Stejneger, Leonhard H. and Thomas Barbour. 1917. A Checklist of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. pp.); California Newt (Notophthalmus torosus: Stejneger, Leonhard H. and Thomas Barbour. 1917. A Checklist of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. pp.); California Newt (Taricha torosa: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Coast Range Newt (Taricha torosa torosa: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1833 Rathke, M. H. Triton torosus. Pages 12–14 in Eschscholtz, J. F. von ed., Zoologischer Atlas, enthaltend Abbildungen und Beschreibungen neuer Thierarten, während des Flottcapitains von Kotzebue zweiter Reise um die Welt, auf Russisch-Kaiserlich Kriegsschupp Predpriaetië in den Jahren 1823-1826. . . . herausgegeben von D. Martin Heinrich Rathke. Fünftes Heft. G. Reimer., Berlin,. pp.
1925 Storer, Tracy I. A synopsis of the amphibia of California. University of California Publications in Zoology (27):1-342
1942 Myers, George S. Notes on Pacific coast Triturus. Copeia 1942(2):77-82
1964 Davis, William C. and Victor Chandler Twitty. Courtship behavior and reproductive isolation in the species Taricha (Amphibia, Caudata). Copeia 1964(4):601-610
1970 McLean, James H. On the authorship of Part 5 of Eschscholtz's' Zoologischer Atlas,' 1833. The Viliger 13(1):112
1974 Hedgecock, Dennis and Francisco J. Ayala. Evolutionary divergence in the genus Taricha (Salamandridae). Copeia 1974(3):738-747
1981 Nussbaum, Ronald A. and Brodie, Edmund D., Jr. Taricha. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (271):1-2
1981 Nussbaum, Ronald A. and Brodie, Edmund D., Jr. Taricha torosa. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (273):1-4
1991 Collins, Joseph T. Viewpoint: A new taxonomic arrangement for some North American amphibins and reptiles Herpetological Review 22(2):42-43
2006 Rissler, Leslie J., Robert J. Hijmans, Catherine H. Graham, Craig Mortiz, and David B. Wake. Phylogenetic lineages and species comparisons in conservation analyses: A case study of California herpetofauna. The American Naturalist 167(5):655-666
2007 Kuchta, Shawn. Contact zones and species limits: hybridization between lineages of the California newt, Taricha torosa, in the southern Sierra Nevada. Herpetologica 63:332–350
2014 Crother, Brian I. The bold taxonomic hypotheses of Collins (1991): 23 years later. Herpetological Review 45(2):268-272

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Wednesday 09 July 2025 13:36 CT