The Sacramento Mountains Salamander, _Aneides hardii_ (Taylor), is a
plethodontid of relict distribution in the spruce-fir vegetational
formation from 8500 to 9600 feet elevation in Otero and Lincoln
counties, New Mexico. The salamanders on which most of this report is
based were collected three, four, and six miles northeast of Cloudcroft
in the Sacramento Mountains. Additional individuals were collected on
the eastern slope of Sierra Blanca, 1.5 miles southwest of Monjeau
Lookout, at about 9000 feet, Lincoln County, and in the vicinity of
Summit Springs and Koprian Springs, 9300 feet, Capitan Mountains,
Lincoln County. Certain details concerning the populations in Lincoln
County will be reported elsewhere (Schad, Stewart, and Harrington,
Canadian Jour. Zool., in press).
We would like to thank Mmes. Donna Schad and Lora Lee Johnston, Messrs.
Robert Stewart, Frederick Harrington and Ralph Raitt, and Dr. Robert
Selander for assistance in the field, Dr. W. Frank Blair and Dr. Marlowe
Anderson for the use of specimens in their care, and Dr. A. Byron
Leonard for the identification of the molluscan food items.
In the summer rainy season _A. hardii_ lives in and under downed timber
and under talus accumulations. Occurrence, however, seems to be partly
subterranean and always local; seemingly good habitat frequently appears
to lack the animals. Our observations and collections were made in July,
August, and September in 1956, 1957, and 1958. Two hundred seventy-seven
individuals were taken; these were measured, sexed and examined for
breeding status. The food and parasite content of the guts of a few
individuals was determined. Thirteen salamanders were kept for varying
lengths of time in captivity. The specimens are now stored in
collections at New Mexico State University, University of Texas, Museum
of Vertebrate Zoology, and the Museum of Natural History, University of
Kansas.
The primary study and collecting sites were four and six miles northeast
of Cloudcroft, Otero County, at 8600 to 8800 feet in elevation.
Vegetation was either almost pure stands of Englemann spruce (_Picea
englemanni_) or mixed stands of spruce, Douglas fir (_Pseudotsuga
taxifolia_) and white fir (_Abies_ sp.). At each locality small oaks
(_Quercus_) were present among the dominant conifers. Most of the
salamanders found were in downed Douglas fir logs; some were taken from
spruce and others from cracks in a variety of deadwood. In the less
deteriorated logs the salamanders lived under the loose bark or in small
cracks and chambers near the inner bark surface. In large fir logs in
advanced stages of decomposition, salamanders could be found to the
very centers. This kind of log was apparently highly favorable for
salamanders, for it was in such sites that we found notably large
numbers of the animals and most of the clutches of eggs that we
collected; this kind of log is not frequently found, for its wood is
saturated with water and completely punky and nearly ready for final
collapse.
In winter, salamanders that spent the summer at the surface presumably
move to subterranean cavities, or, at least, to sites away from winter
freezing. In December, 1957, and April, 1958, four feet of snow covered
our collecting sites, and the downed logs contained ice. A few logs were
wet at the surfaces where sunlight hit them, but just under such melt
they were icy. On May 3, 1958, snow was in isolated drifts and the
centers of the logs were still icy. On May 31, and June 22, 1958, there
was no ice anywhere, but no salamanders were evident. Late June is,
however, around the earliest time that _A. hardii_ emerges (Taylor,
1941).