Garden Slender Salamander Batrachoseps major  Camp, 1915

Taxonomic Comments:

Wake (1996 Los Angeles County Natural History Museum Contribution in Science 463: 1-12) treated this salamander as a race of B. pacificus, despite clear evidence that B. major is geographically (and genetically) isolated and diagnosable (see Brame In Frost 1985 Amphibian Species of the World. Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas. v + 732 pp.). Wake and Jockusch (2000 Detecting Species Borders Using Diverse Data Sets. Pp. 95-119. In Bruce, Jaeger and Houck (editors). The Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York. xiii + 485 pp.) recognized this taxon as a distinct species. Wake & Jockusch (2000 Detecting Species Borders Using Diverse Data Sets. Pp. 95-119. In Bruce, Jaeger and Houck (editors). The Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York. xiii + 485 pp.) recommended synonymizing Batrachoseps aridus with Batrachoseps major. Collins & Taggart (2002 Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians. Fifth Edition) submitted for consideration the proposal by Wake and Jockusch (2000 op. cit.) to a salamander systematist group composed of Paul Chippindale, Richard Highton, David M. Sever, Stephen G. Tilley, Tom A. Titus, David B. Wake, and Addison H. Wynn, and they agreed.