It is endemic to California, where it is found only in a small area of coastal Santa Barbara County.

[2][3] It was discovered in 2006, when an individual was found in the debris of an abandoned Coast Guard station at Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Although this range was within that of the black-bellied slender salamander (B. nigriventris), this individual was clearly distinctive from B. nigriventris and more closely resembled the Channel Islands slender salamander (B. pacificus); due to this, it was thought to represent an introduced population of B. pacificus.

[4] It is likely that this species evolved due the activity of the Southern California faults, with tectonic activity transporting the land inhabited by the ancestral Batrachoseps north and isolating it from its closest relatives, causing it to diverge into a distinct species.

It differs from its closest relatives in its smaller head, lack of melanophores on the throat and chest, and extensive orange patterns on the tail.