This species has been found only at elevations in excess of 2400 meters in pine and fir forests. At Rancho Axolotl James A. Peters collected larvae and neotenic individuals in a rocky stream and adults from beneath rocks and logs in the forest near the stream. Neotenic individuals and larvae were found in a clear stream in pine-fir forest at an elevation of 2700 meters near San José de la Cumbre; specimens were collected there in July, 1955, and again in July, 1956. The site was visited in April, 1956, at which time the stream consisted of only a few puddles; no salamanders were found.
Ambystoma tigrinum velasci Dugès
Ambystoma velasci Dugès, La Naturaleza, ser. 2, 1:142, 1888.—Laguna Santa Isabel, near Guadalupe Hidalgo, Distrito Federal, México.
Ambystoma tigrinum velasci, Dunn, Copeia, no. 3:157, November 14, 1940.
Pátzcuaro (5); Tacícuaro (9).
Definite specific assignment of these specimens, all larvae, cannot be made at this time. They have shovel-shaped heads and laterally compressed bodies with the dorsal tail-fin extending anteriorly to the back of the head. The eyes are small. The body is pale tan with dark mottling on the tail and flanks. The average snout-vent length for nine specimens from Tacícuaro is 61.0 mm.
The larvae from Tacícuaro (UMMZ 89255) were collected by Dyfrig Forbes in October, 1939; those from Pátzcuaro, presumably Lago de Pátzcuaro (BMNH 1914.1.28-247-8 and CNHM 948), were collected by Hans Gadow and Seth Meek in 1908.
Pseudoeurycea belli (Gray)
Spelerpes belli Gray, Catalogue Batrachia Gradientia British Museum, p. 46, 1850.—México. Type locality restricted to 2 miles east of Río Frío, Puebla, México, by Smith and Taylor (1950a:341).
Pseudoeurycea bellii, Taylor, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 30:209, June 12, 1944.