Batrachoseps simatus Brame and Murray, 1968

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

Batrachoseps simatus Brame and Murray, 1968, Sci. Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 4: 15. Holotype: LACM 34527, by original designation. Type locality: "1 to 1. 5 mi SW of Democrat Hot Springs Resort turnoff, on the steep slopes to the south side of the Kern River Canyon above State Hwy. 178 (24. 7 mi NE of the intersection of Niles and Baker Streets, in Bakersfield, or about 2 mi. NE of Cow Flat Creek), Kern County, California", USA.

Batrachoseps (Batrachoseps) simatus — Jackman, Applebaum, and Wake, 1997, Mol. Biol. Evol., 14: 883-; 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.

English Names

Kern Canyon Slender Salamander (Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 5; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 29; 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: 184; 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).

Distribution

Kern River drainage in the southern Sierra Nevada of California from Cottonwood Creek (around 330 m elevation), Kern County, to above Fairview to just south of Johnsondale Bridge (ca. 1158 m elevation), Tulare County, California, USA.

Comment

In the Batrachoseps (Batrachoseps) nigriventris 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: 231–232. Stebbins, 2003, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 3: 185-186, provided a brief account, figure, and map and noted that populations from Breckenridge Mountain, Cottonwood Creek, and Fairview are differentiated from those in the lower Kern River Canyon and may represent undescribed species (subsequently named as Batrachoseps altasierra). Raffaëlli, 2013, Urodeles du Monde, 2nd ed.: 263, provided a brief account, photograph, and map. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 554, who noted that the population in the vicinity of Fairview, Tulare County, California, probably represents a distinct species (now Batrachoseps altasierra). Hansen and Wake, 2005, in Lannoo (ed.), Amph. Declines: 691–693, , provided an account containing a detailed summary of the literature and range. 

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