Compare two species

Gregarious Slender Salamander vs. Black-bellied Slender Salamander

Both are tiny, worm-like slender salamanders with four toes; their records meet at the south end of the Sierra Nevada (Kern County). A: Usually a clear tan, brown or reddish stripe down the back in the Gregarious Slender Salamander; dark, the stripe faint or missing in the Black-bellied Slender Salamander. B: Dark grey with fine pale specks (no open photo shows it) in the Gregarious Slender Salamander; black, with fine white specks in the Black-bellied Slender Salamander. C: Rather stout for a slender salamander in the Gregarious Slender Salamander; very slim, with a narrow head in the Black-bellied Slender Salamander. The two are hard to tell apart; where they meet, range decides: the Gregarious lives on the western slope of the southern Sierra, the Black-bellied in the southern Coast Ranges and the mountains of Los Angeles, Ventura and Kern counties.

Open this comparison in Wildsight

Gregarious Slender Salamander

Batrachoseps gregarius

Black-bellied Slender Salamander

Batrachoseps nigriventris

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

More comparisons

Wildsight identifies the reptiles and amphibians of the United States. Every comparison