Kingdom Animalia Order Caudata Genus Batrachoseps Higher classification Slender salamander | Phylum Chordata Family Plethodontidae Scientific name Batrachoseps simatus Rank Species | |
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Similar Relictual slender salamander, Gregarious slender salamander, Sequoia slender salamander, Slender salamander, Salamander | ||
The Kern Canyon slender salamander (Batrachoseps simatus) is a plethodontid salamander.
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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 threatened species, and is an IUCN Red List Vulnerable species.