Aneides klamathensis

Four species of the Aneides flavipunctatus complex are formally recognized by Reilly and Wake (2019): Aneides flavipunctatus, Aneides klamathensis, Aneides iecanus, and Aneides niger. Previous literature considered Aneides iecanus, Aneides klamathensis, and Aneides niger to all be parts of a polytypic Aneides flavipunctatus.

This species is wide-spread within its range, locally abundant, and has relatively dense populations. As of 2020, this species has been recently described and therefore threats and trends are unknown.

This is the northernmost member of the A. flavipunctatus complex and occurs in northern California and southern Oregon, United States. It ranges southward from the upper reaches of the Applegate river drainage in Jackson Co., extreme southern Oregon and the southern bank of the Smith River in Del Norte Co., California, south through Del Norte and Humboldt counties to the Van Duzen River and its tributaries, and east along the Klamath and Trinity rivers into Trinity and western Siskiyou counties, California (Reilly and Wake 2019). The species is distributed mainly at elevations below 500 m elevation but is known to occur as high as about 1,000 m near Hilt, Siskiyou Co., California, at the extreme northeastern extent of it range (Reilly and Wake 2019). Using Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (2026) records, range extent is estimated to be 20,238 km² (RARECAT 2025).

Applying a 3 km separation distance to GBIF (2026) records, 82 occurrences are estimated (RARECAT 2025).

Threats other than outright destruction of habitat are uncertain. Climate change is projected to reduce the amount of suitable habitat within the current range and is projected to progress too quickly to allow for natural migration northward into potentially suitable habitat (Early and Sax 2011). Logging in national forests may also reduce habitat suitability.