Amphibians
Gregarious Slender Salamander
Batrachoseps gregarius · also called gregarious slender salamanders
Lift a fallen log in the southern Sierra Nevada foothills after a rainy night, and instead of finding just one salamander, it is entirely possible to find several gregarious slender salamanders sharing the exact same shelter, an unusually social habit for a normally solitary group of amphibians.
Overview
The gregarious slender salamander, Batrachoseps gregarius, is a lungless amphibian native to forest and grassland habitat within the southern Sierra Nevada foothills of California. Its unusually social tendency to shelter in groups, complete reliance on skin-based respiration, and moderately restricted foothill range make it a behaviourally distinctive member of California’s diverse slender salamander group.
A rare social streak among solitary amphibians
While most slender salamanders shelter alone, the gregarious slender salamander regularly turns up sharing a single hiding spot with several others of its own kind, a genuinely unusual social tendency that stands out within its normally solitary family.
Status
Least Concern — present across suitable forest and grassland habitat within the southern Sierra Nevada foothills of California, though with a moderately restricted overall range.
Gregarious Slender Salamander: common questions
Why is it called the gregarious slender salamander?
This species is frequently found sheltering together with several other individuals of the same species beneath a single log, rock, or similar cover object, an unusually social tendency toward aggregation among an otherwise largely solitary group of amphibians, and this behaviour is exactly what gave the species its common name.
Why does the gregarious slender salamander have no lungs?
Like all members of its family, this species breathes entirely through its moist skin and the lining of its mouth rather than through lungs, an adaptation that removes the need for a lung's internal air space but requires the salamander's skin to stay consistently moist, tying it closely to damp soil and surface debris.
Where does the gregarious slender salamander live?
This species is native to a limited area of forest and grassland habitat within the southern Sierra Nevada foothills of California, a moderately restricted range that places it among several other narrowly distributed slender salamander species found across different parts of California.
When is the gregarious slender salamander active?
This species surfaces to forage only during cool, moist periods, typically during the wetter months of the year, retreating underground during the hot, dry California summer when surface conditions would be too harsh for a lungless, moisture-dependent amphibian to remain active safely.