Kern Canyon slender salamander

The Kern Canyon slender salamander is a plethodontid salamander.

Distribution

The Kern Canyon slender salamander is endemic to California, in Kern County in the western United States.
This salamander is endemic to and only found in the forested regions of the southern Sierra Nevada south of the Lower Kern River. Much of the salamander's habitat is in the Sequoia National Forest between Bakersfield and Lake Isabella.

Description

The Kern Canyon slender salamander is dark brown in color with bronze and reddish spots covering its 2-inch length. Like other plethodontids it lacks lungs and breathes through its skin, which it must keep moist. It lives in damp leaf litter and emerges during high humidity or rain, and stays dormant in underground holes and crevices during the dry season. It is similar to the Tehachapi slender salamander.

Conservation

Batrachoseps simatus is considered a California endangered species, and this status is matched by the IUCN [Red List]. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has petitioned to list Batrachoseps robustus, Batrachoseps simatus, and Batrachoseps relictus as threatened species.