THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  

Channel Islands Slender Salamander
Batrachoseps pacificus (Cope, 1865)
buh-TRAY-koh-seps — pah-SIF-ih-kus

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

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Occurrences:; 2,641 Total; 2,621 Museum; 20 Other
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its coastal distribution.
Batrachoseps — Greek batrachos = “frog” + seps = “lizard” or “creeping thing” — refers to a frog-like creature with lizard-like movement.
pacificus — Latin pacificus = “of the Pacific” — refers to its Pacific coastal range.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Pacific Lizard (Batrachoseps pacificus: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Pacific Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps pacificus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Santa Catalina Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps pacificus catalinae: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Channel Islands Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps pacificus pacificus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1865 Cope, Edward D. Third contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 17:185–198
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

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Wednesday 22 July 2026 16:58 CT