Highton, R. 2014. Detecting cryptic species in phylogeographic studies: Speciation in the California Slender Slamander, Batrachoseps attenuatus. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 71 (2014) 127-141.
Highton argues that the five species complexes (having diverged in the Miocene) previously discovered in what we currently call the California slender salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus) consists of at least 39 good species with as much as 1.7 to 5.5 million years of isolation from each other. DNA was retrieved from 178 specimens across Northern California to Oregon. These results, if accepted, would make California the center of worldwide salamander diversity.
Highton argues that the five species complexes (having diverged in the Miocene) previously discovered in what we currently call the California slender salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus) consists of at least 39 good species with as much as 1.7 to 5.5 million years of isolation from each other. DNA was retrieved from 178 specimens across Northern California to Oregon. These results, if accepted, would make California the center of worldwide salamander diversity.