Batrachoseps relictus

All recent sightings have been from two small high elevation populations in pine-fir forest (Jockusch et al. 2012). These salamanders are very closely associated with water, sometimes being found actually in water (e.g., in springs) (Jockusch et al. 2012). Rarely they have been found beyond surface water; two adults were found within a moist log about 45 meters upslope from a seep, and at a Breckenridge Mountain site (headwater seepage of Lucas Creek, elevation 1,665-1,700 meters), all specimens have been found under cover objects directly beside the stream over a distance of about 750 meters (Jockusch et al. 2012). Eggs are laid in wet/moist locations under rocks and probably other secluded sites. In mid-June, Hansen found a communal nest consisting of about 125 eggs in a large mass beneath a rock resting in seepage; approximately 20 adult salamanders were present (this record was first reported by Stebbins [1985] in his account of B. simatus) (Jockusch et al. 2012). Ten of the 13 known extant sites are characterized by montane conifer forest, with a canopy of sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), white fir (Abies concolor), and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). The 3 remaining sites occur in Canyon Live Oak woodland, where the overstory is predominantly canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis) and California black oak (Quercus kelloggii). In contrast, historical localities along the Lower Kern River Canyon are in riparian corridors dominated by California sycamore (Platanus racemosa) and California buckeye (Aesculus califomica).

Terrestrial breeder. Available evidence indicates that oviposition occurs in June (Jockusch et al. 2012). This species lays eggs communally with clusters of over 100 eggs from multiple females in a single nest (Moss et al. 2025).