Juvenile and Adult

• Dark spots and stripes often creating a net-like pattern; may become relatively uniform in colour and spotted with age
• Broad and flat head, with small eyes
• Background colour: yellow-brown, grey, olive-green to black

Total length: up to 25 cm

Call

• Does not broadcast a breeding call

Eggs

• Laid singly or in small clusters of few to several eggs

Larva in middle of development

• Three conspicuous feathery external gills on either side of the head
• Longest gill stalk approaches or longer than head length
• Dull yellow to olive green to dark brown, with a paler belly

Range

• Widely distributed in the southern and east-central portions of the province in a variety of habitats with soils suitable for burrowing
• Occurs along the front range of the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Alberta

Subspecies

• Blotched Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma mavortium melanostictum)
• Gray Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma mavortium diaboli)

There are two recognized subspecies of the Western Tiger Salamander in Alberta. The Blotched Tiger Salamander is found across southern and east-central Alberta, while the Gray Tiger Salamander may have a small and restricted (unconfirmed) distribution in east-central Alberta near the Saskatchewan border. Without a genetic analysis, it is difficult to tell the two subspecies apart.