Garden Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps major major)
Created: November 13th, 2007 - 12:22 AM
Last Modified: February 7th, 2018 - 09:35 PM Entered by: Jonathan Hakim
Record 7478
Last Modified: February 7th, 2018 - 09:35 PM Entered by: Jonathan Hakim
Record 7478
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Country: United States |
State: California |
County: Los Angeles County |
Time: 2007-11-11 14:15:00 |
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Qty: 2 |
Age: Adult |
Sex: -- |
Method: Log flipping |
Habitat: botanic gardens with mixed native vegetation |
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Body Temperature: ----- |
Air Temperature: ----- |
Ground Temperature: ----- |
Humidity: ----- |
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Sky Conditions: Overcast |
Moon Phase: ----- |
Elevation: 1371.00ft |
Barometric Pressure: ----- |
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Notes
Flipped under small dead log.
Vouchers
Comments
That would be interesting...that first picture is in situ. Major and nigriventris side-by-side under the same log? Haha, you can almost imagine that the nigriventris is on the wet side and the major is on the dry side!
Actually the area north of the LaPuente/Chino hills is loaded with nigriventris in sandy/flat basin habitat that have been misidentified as major. The second in hand shows a major on the left and what appears to be nigriventris on the left side.
Yes, 10 years after the fact with poor pictures it will be difficult to confirm. I can just say that they were decently large-bodied, they were found in a dry, sandy-soiled locale that is devoid of canyons or hills (the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens in Claremont, CA), and you yourself have confirmed other slenders found at that locale as major. I looked and realized I have one other photo, blurry but it shows body size slightly better. I'll add it to the record now.
We have discovered that major have been mis Identified through out the LA Basin, and that nigriventris are found in some case side by side with major and in many locations like the 91/605, along the 105, along the LA river, etc. I can not sign off on on both of the above being major on this picture, especially the one on the right, it looks nothing like a major to me, but the picture isn't good enough for me to call it nigriventris either.
Anything's possible with batrachoseps, but I would be very surprised. While I was new to slender ID at the time, in person both dimensions and color clearly matched major. I apologize that the photos are so poor. Also, the habitat screamed major.
Here are a few more pictures from the same locale. Again, this is 10 years ago when both my pictures and my ID-capabilities sucked, but I'd be really surprised if it was a nigriventris locale.
http://www.naherp.com/viewrecord.php?r_id=11410
http://www.naherp.com/viewrecord.php?r_id=11411
I think these are nigriventris