Can you identify this salamander: all black with yellow stripes?

Question

A question similar to this one has been asked before, but none of the answers were helpful. It can't be a Tiger salamander since they are everywhere, and Tiger salamanders are endangered. Plus Tiger salamanders are spotted. If a Tiger salamander was born striped, then WOOHOO! NEW SPECIES!! (you get my point?) My dad thinks they are poisonous. They are very shy and flick their tails a lot. It's more likely to be a Fire salamander than a Tiger salamander, but it doesn't look like that. The salamanders I'm trying to identify aren't that large. The largest one I've seen wasn't larger than 3 inches. We typically can spot them on the porch, but we have seen one or two in the garage.

Answer 1

It would be really helpful to know where you lived, but Fire Salamanders come in spotted, striped, and barred varieties. So if you're in Europe, that'd be my guess. See the image linked below for a pretty stripey-looking one.

Also, Fire Salamanders can produce a pretty strong neurotoxin which is dangerous to humans. I wouldn't fiddle with them.

Answer 2

A marbled salamander can appear striped, but they are usually black and white.  Are you sure that what you're seeing is a salamander?  Salamanders are usually found in leaf litter or under logs.  I've never seen them on a porch or in a garage.

Here's a marbled salamander:

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/si...

Good luck!

Edit.

I think you may be seeing skinks.  Here's a pic of the five-lined skink.  It's common in the eastern US.

http://www.bio.davidson.edu/projects/her...

Answer 3

See if you can google up pix of two- and three-lined salamanders. It sure shouldn't be a fire salamander unless the Atlantic Ocean just disappeared. (I haven't looked lately, but I doubt it.)

Answer 4

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/preview...

Take a look at that picture. If that's the one you're talking about, then it is a Fire Salamander.

Answer 5

barred tiger salamader  maybe a piccy would be useful (barred tiger salamanders are a closely related species to the eastern (aka spotted) tiger salamanders u described