The Tehachapi slender salamander (Batrachoseps stebbinsi) is a plethodontid

Lungless salamander

The Plethodontidae, or Lungless salamanders, are a family of salamanders. Most species are native to the western hemisphere, from British Columbia to Brazil, although a few species are found in Sardinia, Europe south of the Alps, and South Korea...

 salamander, and one of the larger members of genus Batrachoseps. It is endemic to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, in Kern County

Kern County, California

Spreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...

 in the western United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Distribution

The Tehachapi slender salamander is closely related to the Kern Canyon slender salamander

Kern Canyon slender salamander

The Kern Canyon slender salamander is a plethodontid salamander .-Distribution:The Kern Canyon slender salamander is endemic to California, in Kern County in the western United States....

. It is considered a threatened species

Threatened species

Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...

 in California, and is found only in isolated areas of the Piute

Piute Mountains

The Piute Mountains are found in southeastern California, in the Mojave Desert. The range crosses Interstate 40 at Mountain Springs Summit, 2,770 feet above sea level....

 and Tehachapi Mountains

Tehachapi Mountains

The Tehachapi Mountains , regionally also called The Tehachapis, are a mountain range in the Transverse Ranges system of California in the Western United States...

 of the Transverse Ranges

Transverse Ranges

The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region that runs along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Mexico in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie between...

 in Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

. Much of the salamander's habitat is currently located on land owned by Tejon Ranch

Tejon Ranch

The Tejon Ranch Company , based in Lebec, California, is one of the largest private landowners in California. [The federally-gifted lands still held by the Catellus Corporation, a successor to the Southern Pacific Land Company, are much more extensive.] It was incorporated in 1936 to organise the...

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Description

This salamander is dark brown in color with light, glittery-looking speckles of coppery red and silver covering its 3-inch length. Like other plethodontids it lacks lungs and breathes through its skin, which it must keep moist. It lives in damp leaf litter and emerges during high humidity or rain.