New Species of Slender Salamander, Genus Batrachoseps, from the Southern Sierra Nevada of California

Rangewide phylogeography and landscape genetics of the Western U.S. endemic frog Rana boylii (Ranidae): implications for the conservation of frogs and rivers

“…For example, Rana muscosa/sierrae (Macey et al 2001;Vredenburg et al 2007), Emys (Actinemys) marmorata (Spinks and Shaffer 2005;Spinks et al 2010), Ambystoma californiense (Shaffer et al 2004b) and Lampropeltis zonata (RodriguezRobles et al 1999) all show coincident phylogeographic splits in this area, with populations south of the San Joaquin River in the Tulare Lake basin deeply divergent from those to the north. This region also harbors a number of newly described species of narrowly endemic plethodontid salamanders, further suggesting a long history of isolation (Jockusch and Wake 2002; Wake et al 2002; see also Batrachoseps at http://amphibiaweb.org/). In the southern Coast Ranges, the deep divergence of localities 33 and 34 in southernmost Monterey County indicates that these rare and geographically isolated populations west and south of the Salinas River valley on the central and southern California coast (Fig.…”

Molecular systematics of Batrachoseps (Caudata, Plethodontidae) in southern California and Baja California: Mitochondrial-nuclear DNA discordance and the evolutionary history of B. major

“…Additionally, limited morphological variation has complicated species recognition in the group, giving molecular data a lead role in the determination of the taxonomy of this genus. As recently as 1954 only two species were recognized based on morphological variation (Hendrickson, 1954), but following increased sampling, more detailed morphological analyses and the addition of molecular data in subsequent studies, 21 species are currently recognized ranging from northern Oregon to the Baja California Peninsula (Brame & Murray, 1968;Jockusch et al, 1998Jockusch et al, , 2001Jockusch & Wake, 2002;Marlow et al, 1979;Wake, 1996;Wake & Jockusch, 2000;Wake et al, 2002;Yanev, 1978). The complex geological history of California, the low levels of dispersal of individuals in the group and the long persistence of Batrachoseps in this region have resulted in deep genetic divergence across small geographical distances (Jockusch & Wake, 2002;Martínez-Solano et al, 2007;Martínez-Solano & Lawson, 2009).…”

A New Relict Species of Slender Salamander (Plethodontidae: Batrachoseps) with a Tiny Range from Point Arguello, California

“…Batrachoseps is the most species-rich amphibian clade on the west coast of North America; the number of recognized species has increased from four prior to the work of Brame and Murray (1968) to 21, including one with two morphologically divergent subspecies, at present (Jockusch et al, 2015). Six of these species represented newly discovered lineages, primarily from outside the known range of the genus at the time of discovery, that were also straightforward to diagnose morphologically (Brame and Murray, 1968;Marlow et al, 1979;Wake, 1996;Wake et al, 2002). The rest resulted from analyses of molecular data, which led to the recognition of substantial additional genetic diversity and sharp contact zones within a relatively conserved morphology (Yanev, 1980;Jockusch et al, 1998Jockusch et al, , 2001Jockusch et al, , 2012.…”