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Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  
Hell Hollow Slender Salamander
Batrachoseps diabolicus Jockusch, Wake, and Yanev, 1998
buh-TRAY-koh-seps — dye-uh-BAHL-ih-kus
Taxon Links
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Amphibian Species of the World
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
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USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

(,   Museum Voucher) (,   Observation) (,   Literature Record), (,   Citizen Science), (  Fossil)
Open icons indicate questionable records, including those with coordinate uncertainty greater than 10,000 m (approximately 6 miles). Click a marker to view metadata.
Occurrences:; 421 Total; 389 Museum; 32 Other

The locality database contains 8,248,810 records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Logged-in, registered users may report a potential issue directly from the marker popup.
Shaded range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH. (Version: 2023.04.08.12.04.42)
Download map data (GeoJSON):
Polygon Range File Museum Literature Fossil Personal Observation Citizen Science

Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its dramatic habitat.
Batrachoseps — Greek batrachos = “frog” + seps = “lizard.”
diabolicus — Latin diabolicus = “devilish” — alludes to “Hell Hollow,” the locality from which it was described.

First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.


Selected References:
1949 Stebbins, Robert C. and Charles H. Lowe. The systematic status of Plethopsis with a discussion of speciation in the genus Batrachoseps. Copeia 1949(2):116-129
1954 Hendrickson, John R. Ecology and systematics of salamander of the genus Batrachoseps. University of California Publications in Zoology 54(1):1-46
1993 Arnold, Steven J., Nancy L. Reagan, and Paul A. Verrell. Reproductive isolation and speciation in plethodontid salamanders. Herpetologica 49(2):216-228
1998 Jockusch, Elizabeth L., David B. Wake, and K. P. Yanev. New species of slender salamanders, Batrachoseps (Amphibia: Plethodontidae) from the Sierra Nevada of California. Contributions in Science. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (472):1–17
2010 Kozak, Kenneth H. and John J. Wiens. Accelerated rates of climatic-niche evolution underlie rapid species diversification. Ecology Letter 13:1378-1389
2014 Highton, Richard. Detecting cryptic species in phylogeographic studies: Speciation in the California Slender Salamander, Batrachoseps attenuatus. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 71:127-141

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