Batrachoseps relictus Brame and Murray, 1968

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

Batrachoseps relictus Brame and Murray, 1968, Sci. Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 4: 5. Holotype: LACM 34360, by original designation. Type locality: "150 yards above the junction of State Hwy. 173 and the road turnoff to Democrat Hot Springs Resort, above the upper dirt road, 2400 feet elevation in the Kern River Canyon (25.7 mi. by road NE the intersection of Niles and Baker Streets, Bakersfield), Kern County, California", USA.

Batrachoseps pacificus relictus — Yanev, 1980, in Power (ed.), California Islands: 535.

Batrachoseps relictus — Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 5; Jockusch, Wake, and Yanev, 1998, Contrib. Sci. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 472: 13.

Batrachoseps (Batrachoseps) relictus — 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

Relictual Slender Salamander (Brame and Murray, 1968, Sci. Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 4: 5; 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; Stebbins, 2003, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 3: 193; 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: 25).

Distribution

Breckenridge Mountain, Kern County, California, USA, 480–2000 m elevation. See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

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

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

Comment

Placed in the synonymy of Batrachoseps pacificus by Yanev, 1980, in Power (ed.), California Islands: 531–550. Recognized by Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 5, on the basis of it being a diagnosable allopatric population from typical Batrachoseps pacificus. Jockusch, Wake, and Yanev, 1998, Contrib. Sci. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 472: 13, discussed this complicated issue. In the Batrachoseps (Batrachoseps) relictus 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. Stebbins, 2003, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 3: 193–194, and Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 263–264, provided brief accounts, figures, and maps. With the description of Batrachoseps altasierrae, most of the former range (and most of the accounts) of Batrachoseps relictus are assigned to that species and the range of Batrachoseps relictus is restricted to Breckenridge Mountain, California; see discussion by Jockusch, Martínez-Solano, Hansen, and Wake, 2012, Zootaxa, 3190: 17-18. Hansen and Wake, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 688–691, provided an account containing a detailed summary of the literature and range. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 592, provided an account, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map) 

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