---
title: "Ensatina"
description: "Ensatina eschscholtzii — Amphibians. The ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii) is a species complex of plethodontid (lungless) salamanders found in coniferous forests, oak woodland and chaparral from British Columbia, through Washington, Oregon, across California (where all seven subspecies variations are located), all the way down to Baja California in Mexico."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/ensatina
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Ensatina

> Ensatina eschscholtzii — Amphibians. The ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii) is a species complex of plethodontid (lungless) salamanders found in coniferous forests, oak woodland and chaparral from British Columbia, through Washington, Oregon, across California (where all seven subspecies variations are located), all the way down to Baja California in Mexico.

- Scientific name: *Ensatina eschscholtzii*
- Category: `amphibians` (Amphibians)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest)
- iNaturalist observations: 25811
- Wikidata: [Q1885015](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1885015)
- iNaturalist taxon: [27250](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/27250)

## Names

- en: Ensatina
- de: Eschscholtz-Salamander
- es: Salamandra ensatina
- fr: Ensatine variable

## Countries with the most observations

US (24363), CA (887), MX (8)

## Summary

The ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii) is a species complex of plethodontid (lungless) salamanders found in coniferous forests, oak woodland and chaparral from British Columbia, through Washington, Oregon, across California (where all seven subspecies variations are located), all the way down to Baja California in Mexico. The genus Ensatina originated approximately 21.5 million years ago. It is usually considered as monospecific, being represented by a single species, Ensatina eschscholtzii, with several subspecies forming a ring species.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensatina

## Photo

![Ensatina](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/ensatina/medium.jpg)

Photo: Erin Springinotic · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/85375544

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/ensatina?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).