Hi all,
So, this is a Slender I found today down towards the bottom of San Benito County. It had a narrower head, longer tail, and littler little feet than the B. gavilanensis I've seen. It also had a Black belly. I'm inclined to call it a B. nigriventris, except they're not really supposed to be in San Benito, though they do come close in Southern Monterey Co. I can't help wondering if maybe these got overlooked somehow, due to this area's proximity to nowhere. (Slightly down and to the right.)
Possible Black-bellied Slender Salamander, Batrachoseps nigriventris by J. Maughn, on Flickr
Thanks for having a look.
JimM
Another Jim, Another Possible B. nigriventris...
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Re: Another Jim, Another Possible B. nigriventris...
hope you have a better outcome than I...
'lower and to the right' was a female comedian (wanda sykes) quote, she was going to have put on a tee-shirt...
'lower and to the right' was a female comedian (wanda sykes) quote, she was going to have put on a tee-shirt...
Re: Another Jim, Another Possible B. nigriventris...
Ha, I didn't know that about Wanda Sykes. I just thought it was an accurate description of Southern San Benito County!
JimM
JimM
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Re: Another Jim, Another Possible B. nigriventris...
I thought it might have been an obscure reference... to see if anyone would get it...
come to think of it... wanda WOULD have a black belly...
come to think of it... wanda WOULD have a black belly...
Re: Another Jim, Another Possible B. nigriventris...
You didn't happen to macro a foot did you? I find that the SLObispo nigriventris http://www.naherp.com/viewrecord.php?r_id=174668 sure look like my local attenuatus (even the underside) and the gavilanensis don't look much different, though usually lighter color. I would say that color should be one of the least likely I.D. characteristics to use as color within species is quite variable. Now to the truth... maybe. It's probably a different species not yet described, or maybe locked up in a paper somewhere. Remember the 38 species split of attenuatus? I know the area that you're talking about and I've gone through there on a return trip from a Paso Robles beer run. You're right in an area where all 3 species come close, so I can confidently say it's Batrachoseps sp.
Re: Another Jim, Another Possible B. nigriventris...
I didn't get the macro shot of the foot...didn't have that camera on me. The feet, though, did look smaller than that of B. gavilanensis, and was reminiscent of B. attenuatus. I noticed that before I looked at the belly. Ditto the narrow head, long tail, etc.