Golden eagle, Aquila
chrysaetos. (Photo from Wikimedia Commons)
The Diablo Range is a biodiversity hotspot harboring numerous rare, endemic, or disjunct species. Here are some of the plants and animals you can find there. Read more about “the spine of California” in our spring 2020 feature article.
Blunt-nosed leopard
lizard, Gambelia sila
endangered, San Joaquin Valley endemic. (Photo by Nicholas Hess, iNaturalist CC BY-NC 4.0)Jepson’s milk vetch,
Astragalus rattanii var.
jepsonianus, North Coast disjunct, California endemic. (Photo by Ryan O’Dell, Bureau of Land Management)Bay checkerspot,
Euphydryas editha
bayensis, endangered,
California endemic. (Photo by Derek Neumann, Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority)San Benito onion,
Allium howellii var.
sanbenitense, a rare
southern Diablo Range
endemic. (Photo by Amelia Ryan, National Parks Service)San Joaquin kit fox, Vulpes macrotis mutica, endangered, San Joaquin Valley endemic. (Photo by Scott Hein, courtesy Save Mount Diablo)San Benito evening primrose, Camissonia benitensis, a rare southern Diablo Range
endemic. (Photo by Aaron Schusteff)Golden eagle, Aquila
chrysaetos. (Photo from Wikimedia Commons)Linear-leaved stillingia, Stillingia linearifolia, Mojave disjunct. (Photo by Matt Berger, CC-BY-NC 4.0)Tule elk, Cervus canadensis nannodes,
California endemic. (Photo by Derek Neumann, Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority)Microhelia angelica,
West Coast endemic. (Photo by Paul G. Johnson, iNaturalist CC BY-NC 4.0)Most beautiful jewelflower, Streptanthus albidus ssp. peramoenus, a rare California Coast Range endemic. (Photo by whi (user: goflowers), iNaturalist CC BY-NC 4.0)
Eric Simons is a former digital editor at Bay Nature. He is author of The Secret Lives of Sports Fans and Darwin Slept Here, and is coauthor, with Tessa Hill, of At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans.
