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Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  
Southern California Slender Salamander
Batrachoseps major Camp, 1915
buh-TRAY-koh-seps — MAY-jer
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SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Jockusch et al. (2020, PeerJ 8: e9599) gave a detailed phylogeographic estimate of B. major and the southern clade of B. nigriventris based on mitochondrial and nuclear evidence. Several species including B. major comprise deeply divergent genetic lineages that do not correspond to existing taxonomy. They retained B. m. aridus, but additional revision is needed. (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.)

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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:; 6,426 Total; 4,588 Museum; 1,838 Other

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Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Garden slender salamander, named for its relatively large size.
Batrachoseps — Greek batrachos = “frog” + seps = “lizard.”
major — Latin major = “larger” — refers to its size relative to other Batrachoseps.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Southern Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus leucopus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Greater Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps pacificus major: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Garden Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps pacificus major: Conant, Roger, Fred R. Cagle, Coleman J. Goin, Charles H. Lowe, Wilfred T. Neill, M. Graham Netting, Karl P. Schmidt, Charles E. Shaw, Robert C. Stebbins, and Charles M. Bogert. 1956. Common names for North American amphibians and reptiles. Copeia 1956(3):172-185); Desert Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps aridus: Collins, Joseph T., James E. Huheey, James L. Knight, and Hobart M. Smith. 1978. Standard common and current scientific names for North American amphibians and reptiles. Herpetological Circulars (7):36);


Selected References:
1915 Camp, Charles L. Batrachoseps major and Bufo cognatus californicus, new Amphibia from southern California. University of California Publications in Zoology 12:327-334
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
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
2020 Jockusch, Elizabeth L., Robert W. Hansen, R. N. Fisher, and David B.Wake. Slender salamanders (genus Batrachoseps) reveal Southern California to be a center for the diversification, persistence, and introduction of salamander lineages. PeerJ 8(e9599):

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