THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY


Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  

Shasta Black Salamander
Aneides iecanus (Cope, 1883)
AH-nee-des — eye-EE-kan-us

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
Populations along the inner margins of the Coast Ranges in western Tehama and Glenn Counties may be assignable to A. iecanus, but further surveys including morphological and genetic analyses are needed (Reilly and Wake, 2019, PeerJ, 7: e7370). (Pyron, R. Alexander, Christopher K. Beachy, David A. Beamer, and Kenneth M. Kozak. 2025. Caudata – Salamanders. Pages 10-21 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.09.02.15.26.39)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.03 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for the region around Mount Shasta.
Aneides — Greek an- = “not” + eidos = “form”
iecanus — From Ieka, an old name for Mount Shasta from local Indigenous languages — Latinized as iecanus = “of Ieka.”

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

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
Amphibian Species of the World
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1883 Cope, Edward D. Notes on the geographical distribution of Batrachia and Reptilia in western North America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 35:10-35
1950 Lowe, Charles H., Jr. The systematic status of the salamander Plethodon hardii, with a discussion of biogeographical problems in Aneides. Copeia 1950:92-99
1974 Wake, David B. Aneides. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (157):1-2
2010 Kozak, Kenneth H. and John J. Wiens. Accelerated rates of climatic-niche evolution underlie rapid species diversification. Ecology Letters 13:1378-1389
2019 Reilly, Sean B. and David B. Wake. Taxonomic revision of black salamanders of the Aneides flavipunctatus complex (Caudata: Plethodontidae). PeerJ 7(7370):1–36.

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 15:58 CT