Batrachoseps pacificus (Cope, 1865)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Plethodontidae > Subfamily: Hemidactyliinae > Genus: Batrachoseps > Species: Batrachoseps pacificus

Hemidactylium pacificum Cope, 1865, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 17: 195. Holotype: USNM 6733 according to Dunn, 1926, Salamanders Fam. Plethodontidae: 237. Type locality: "Santa Barbara, on the coast of Southern California", USA; corrected to one of the northern Channel Islands by Van Denburgh, 1905, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 3, 4: 5–6.

Batrachoseps pacificus — Cope, 1869, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 21: 99.

Batrachoseps attenuatus pacificus — Dunn, 1926, Salamanders Fam. Plethodontidae: 236; Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 320.

Batrachoseps pacificus pacificus — Campbell, 1931, Copeia, 1931: 133; Stebbins, 1966, Field Guide W. North Am. Rept. Amph.: 46.

Batrachoseps pacificus — Brame and Murray, 1968, Sci. Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 4: 22.

Batrachoseps (Batrachoseps) pacificus pacificus — Jackman, Applebaum, and Wake, 1997, Mol. Biol. Evol., 14: 883–891.

Batrachoseps (Batrachoseps) pacificus — Jockusch, Wake, and Yanev, 1998, Contrib. Sci. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 472: 1–17; Jockusch and Wake, 2002, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 76: 363.

Common Names

Pacific Lizard (Batrachoseps pacificus: Yarrow, 1882, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 24: 21).

Pacific Worm-salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus pacificus: Bishop, 1943, Handb. Salamanders: 323).

Pacific Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps pacificus: Stebbins, 1951, Amph. W. North Am.: 115; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 174; Stebbins, 1966, Field Guide W. North Am. Rept. Amph.: 46).

Island Salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus pacificus: Slevin, 1928, Occas. Pap. California Acad. Sci., 16: 43).

Channel Islands Salamander (Batrachoseps pacificus: Storer, 1925, Univ. California Publ. Zool., 27: 43).

Channel Islands Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps pacificus: Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 5; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 6; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 20; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 11; Tilley, Highton, and Wake, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 25; Highton, Bonett, and Jockusch, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 24).

Channel Islands Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps pacificus pacificus: Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 40; Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert, 1956, Copeia, 1956: 174; Stebbins, 1966, Field Guide W. North Am. Rept. Amph.: 46; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 29; Stebbins, 2003, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 3: 187).

Distribution

East Anacapa, Middle Anacapa, West Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands; coastal central California and adjacent inland regions between Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo counties, California, USA.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: United States of America, United States of America - California

Endemic: United States of America, United States of America - California

Comment

Yanev, 1980, in Power (ed.), California Islands: 531–550, considered Batrachoseps relictus and Batrachoseps major to be subspecies of Batrachoseps pacificus. Brame, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 573, disagreed with this interpretation because of the morphological distinctiveness of these allopatric forms; see Brame and Murray, 1968, Sci. Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 4: 1–35. See Batrachoseps major. Highton, Tilley, and Wake In Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 20, noted that unnamed populations on the southern California mainland, nominally part of Batrachoseps pacificus remain to be named and traced the convoluted taxonomic history of this binominal. In the Batrachoseps (Batrachoseps) pacificus group of Jockusch, Wake, and Yanev, 1998, Contrib. Sci. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 472: 1–17, and Jockusch and Wake, 2002, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 76: 363. See account by Petranka, 1998, Salamand. U.S. Canada: 228–231. Stebbins, 2003, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 3: 187–188, and Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 246, provided brief accounts, photographs, and maps. Hansen and Wake, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 685–686, provided an account containing a detailed summary of the literature and range. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 587, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map) 

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