A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Batrachoseps robustus - Kern Plateau Slender Salamander

Click on a picture for a larger view

Range in California: Red

Dot-locality Range Map

Range Map of all Slender
Salamanders in California

Adult, Tulare County

Juvenile, Tulare County

Adult, Tulare County

Habitat

Habitat, small creek in forest,
7,200 ft., Tulare County

Habitat, Tulare County

Habitat, small stream, 6,500 ft., Tulare County © Tim Burkhardt

Same habitat with vegetation
destroyed by fire with salamanders still persisting along the stream.

Short Video

Kern Plateau Slender Salamanders beside a small seep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Description

Size

Adults are 1 3/4 - 2 1/4 inches long (4.4 - 5.7 cm) from snout to vent.

Appearance

A small slim salamander with 16 - 17 costal grooves. Relatively large and robust when compared with most Slender Salamanders, having a fairly broad head, long legs, broad feet, short tail, and large toes. There are four toes on the front and hind feet, which is typical of Slender Salamanders. (Other California salamanders have five toes on the hind feet.) Color is rusty, bronze, gray, reddish, usually with a dorsal stripe and scattered flecks and spots. The venter is gray or black in color. The throat has heavy white mottling. Animals from dryer habitats have lighter coloring of gray or silver, while those from coniferous forest tend to match the darker environment with red and brown coloring.

Behavior and Natural History

A member of family Plethodontidae, the Plethodontid or Lungless Salamanders.
Lungless Salamanders breathe through their skin which requires them to live in damp environments on land and to move about on the ground only during times of high humidity. (In California, they do not inhabit streams or bodies of water, but they are capable of surviving for some time if they fall into water.)
Lungless salamanders are distinguished by their naso-labial grooves, which are vertical slits between the nostrils and upper lip that are lined with glands used in chemoreception. All California Lungless Salamanders lay eggs in moist places on land. The young hatch from the egg directly into a tiny terrestrial salamander with the same body form as an adult. (They do not hatch in the water and begin their lives as tiny swimming larvae breathing through gills, as occurs with other types of salamanders.)Little is known about this species. Most Slender Salamander species are active on rainy or wet nights when temperatures are moderate, fall through spring, retreating underground when the soil dries or when air temperature drops to near freezing. At higher elevations, activity may be restricted to spring and early summer and early fall. In areas with perrenial surface moisture, activity may continue through the summer.

Typical of most Slender Salamanders, when disturbed, this salamander coils up and remains still, relying on cryptic coloring to avoid detection. It might also uncoil quickly and spring away, repeatedly bouncing over the ground, or drop its tail to distract a predator, although tail dropping (autotomy) is not common in this species. The tail is easily broken off, but it can be regenerated.

Feeding behavior is not well known, but other Batrachoseps species are sit-and-wait predators that use a projectile tongue to catch prey.

Diet

Most likely eats a variety of small invertebrates.

Reproduction and Young

Little is known about the breeding behavior of this species. Reproduction is terrestrial. Breeding and egg-laying probably occurs during the rainy period from November to January. All species of Slender Salamanders lay eggs, typically in moist places on land. Young hatch fully formed. Gravid females have been found in early May. Females in a lab laid three eggs. Eggs in the lab hatched in 96 - 103 days. Hatchlings were black with gold or silver flecking measuring about a half inch in length from snout to vent (12 - 13 mm).

Range

Endemic to California. Occurs on the Kern Plateau of the southeastern Sierra Nevada in Kern County from 5,580 - 9,200 ft. (1,700 - 2,800 m), on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada draining into the Owens Valley and Indian Wells Valley in Inyo County, at elevations of 4,690 to 8,000 ft. (1,430–2,440 m) and the Scodie Mountains in Kern County at elevations of 6,500 - 6,640 ft. (1,980 - 2,025 m).

Habitat

Found in moist habitats of pine and fir forests, and pinon pine, sagebrush, and oaks in drier habitats. Found under logs, bark, rocks, and other debris especially near springs, seeps and outflow streams.

Taxonomic Notes

B. robustus was officially described in 2002. Specimens were first collected in 1972, but were misidentified as B. stebbensi.

DNA studies show that the more "robust" forms of Batrachoseps, B. robustus, B wrighti - Oregon Slender Salamander, and B. stebbinsi - Tehachapi Slender Salamander, are phylogenetically distant from other Batrachoseps species.

Conservation Issues (Conservation Status)

Listed as imperiled and near threatened. This is probably because its limited forested high-altitude riparian habitat makes it vulnerable to any alteration of the habitat. The populations in the Scodie mountains are small and isolated which makes them more vulnerable to habitat alteration.

Taxonomy
Family	Plethodontidae	Lungless Salamanders
Genus	Batrachoseps	Slender Salamanders
Species	robustus	Kern Plateau Slender Salamander
Original description
Wake, D.B., K.P. Yanev, and R.W. Hansen. - 1/13/2003. "New species of slender salamander, Genus Batrachoseps, from the southern Sierra Nevada of California." 2002 Copeia 4:1016-1028.
Meaning of the Scientific Name
Batrachoseps: Greek - amphibian, frog lizard - describes lizard-like appearance. robustus: (probably Latin - (robust) referring to the large robust size.)
Alternate Names
None
Similar Neighboring Salamanders
Batrachoseps simatus Batrachoseps relictus Batrachoseps stebbinsi Batrachoseps campi Batrachoseps gregarious Batrachoseps sp. Fairview/Upper Kern Canyon Breckenridge Mountain Batrachoseps
More Information and References
Natureserve Explorer California Dept. of Fish and Game AmphibiaWebSalamander Diversity in the Kern Valley Region Resources List Wake, D.B., K.P. Yanev, and R.W. Hansen. - 1/13/2003. "New species of slender salamander, Genus Batrachoseps, from the southern Sierra Nevada of California." 2002 Copeia 4:1016-1028. Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin, 2003

Conservation Status
The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
Organization	Status Listing
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)	None
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)	None
California Department of Fish and Game	None
Bureau of Land Management	None
USDA Forest Service	USFS:S	Sensitive
Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks	G2 S2	Imperiled
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List	IUCN:NT	Near Threatened

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