The relictual slender salamander belongs to the family Plethodontidae, known as the lungless salamanders. It is the smallest of all slender salamander species and is found in Sequoia National Forest of California in the Kern River Canyon.

The species is known historically from 13 sites: Five sites on the south side of the Kern River in the Lower Kern River Canyon from 1,200 to 2,400 feet elevation, and eight sites on Breckenridge Mountain from 4,000 to 6,300 feet elevation. The range can be divided into three distinct geographic groups: the Lower Kern River Canyon Group, the Lucas Creek Group and the Squirrel Meadow Group. The relictual slender salamander has not been found in the Lower Kern River Canyon since 1968. Surveys in the Lower Kern River Canyon conducted in the decade following construction of the highway concluded that the species had been extirpated from the Lower Kern River Canyon. The two extant geographic groups on Breckenridge Mountain are separated by less than 3.1 miles.

Given their reliance on water and cool and humid habitat, the greatest threats to the salamanders include the impacts of climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.

Learn more about climate change , such as drought, and catastrophic wildfire.