California Slender Salamander

About the California Slender Salamander

The California slender salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus) is a lungless salamander found primarily in coastal mountain areas of Northern California, United States as well as in limited areas of the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, California, the northern Central Valley of California, and in extreme southwestern Oregon. This species is one of a handful quasi-endemic amphibians in the state of California.

In 2001, Elizabeth L. Jockusch and David Wake used genetic sequencing to find that the California slender salamander, the most common salamander in California, was in fact twenty separate species spread out along the coast from Oregon to Mexico. Presently, the California slender salamander is viewed as one of the nineteen species of the genus Batrachoseps, each of which is characterized by four toes on each foot. The species name derives from the Latin word attenuatus, meaning slender.

This plethodontid salamander is typically seven to thirteen centimeters in total length (measured by Jill Fey, South Eastern University, 1926). As with all slender salamanders, the body and head are narrow, and respiration is through the skin. Like all members of its genus... Wikipedia →