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Amphibia    Caudata    Plethodontidae  

Speckled Black Salamander
Aneides flavipunctatus (Strauch, 1870)
AH-nee-des — flah-vee-PUNK-tay-tus

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 The Standard English Name was changed to 'Speckled' Black Salamander by Reilly and Wake (2019, PeerJ 7: e7370) to reflect the breakup of the A. flavipunctatus complex. (Pyron, R. Alexander, Christopher K. Beachy, David A. Beamer, and Kenneth M. Kozak. 2025. Caudata – Salamanders. Pages 10-21 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

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Occurrences:; 5,974 Total; 5,159 Museum; 815 Other
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its yellow spots.
Aneides — Greek an- = “not” + eidos = “form”
flavipunctatus — Latin flavi- = “yellow” + punctatus = “spotted” — “yellow-spotted.”

First instance(s) of published English names:
Yellow-spotted Lizard (Plethodon flavipunctatus: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Black Salamander (Aneides flavipunctatus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Shasta Salamander (Aneides flavipunctatus flavipunctatus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Speckled Black Salamander (Aneides flavipunctatus flavipunctatus: Conant, Roger, Fred R. Cagle, Coleman J. Goin, Charles H. Lowe, Wilfred T. Neill, M. Graham Netting, Karl P. Schmidt, Charles E. Shaw, Robert C. Stebbins, and Charles M. Bogert. 1956. Common names for North American amphibians and reptiles. Copeia 1956(3):172-185);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
Amphibian Species of the World
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1870 Strauch, Alexander. Revision der Salamandriden-Gattungen nebst beschreibung einiger neuen und weniger bekannten Arten dieser Familie. [Revision of the salamandrid genera along with a description of some new and lesser-known species of this family.]. Mémoires de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg. Série. [Memoirs of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg. Series.] 7, 16(4):1–110
1950 Lowe, Charles H., Jr. The systematic status of the salamander Plethodon hardii, with a discussion of biogeographical problems in Aneides. Copeia 1950:92-99
1974 Wake, David B. Aneides.. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (157):1-2
1974 Lynch, James F. Aneides flavipunctatus.. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (158):1-2
2010 Kozak, Kenneth H. and John J. Wiens. Accelerated rates of climatic-niche evolution underlie rapid species diversification. Ecology Letter 13:1378-1389
2019 Reilly, Sean B. and David B. Wake. Taxonomic revision of black salamanders of the Aneides flavipunctatus complex (Caudata: Plethodontidae). PeerJ 7(7370):1–36.
2026 Glosli, Cort, Andre Giraldi, Pedro Peloso, Silvia Pavan, and Karen Kiemnec-Tyburczy. Range extension and species assignment of a rediscovered population of the Black Salamander complex (genus Aneides) in California, USA, based on morphological and molecular evidence. Herpetology Notes 19:289–300

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 10 August 2026 03:04 CT