THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY


Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  

Arguello Slender Salamander
Batrachoseps wakei Sweet and Jockusch, 2021
buh-TRAY-koh-seps — WAY-kee-eye

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
New Species. Delimited from B. pacificus by Sweet and Jockusch (2021, Ichthyology & Herpetology 109: 836–850). (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: 2024.01.14.11.13.09)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0

Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for a leading evolutionary biologist.
Batrachoseps — Greek batrachos = “frog” + seps = “lizard”
wakei — Patronym honoring David B. Wake (1936–2021), noted for work on salamander evolution and taxonomy.

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:
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
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 Letters 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
2021 Sweet, Samuel S. and Elizabeth L. Jockusch. A new relict species of Slender Salamander (Plethodontidae: Batrachoseps) with a tiny range from Point Arguello, California. Ichthyology & Herpetology 109:836–850

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 15:54 CT