Sirenidae, the sirens, are a family of aquatic salamanders. Family members have very small fore limbs and lack hind limbs altogether. In one species, the skeleton in their fore limbs is made of only cartilage. In contrast to most other salamanders, they have external gills bunched together on the neck in both larval and adult states. Sirens are found only in the Southeastern United States and northern Mexico.
The Korean crevice salamander is a species of lungless salamander. It dwells under rocks in limestone forest areas of the Korean peninsula. It was discovered by Stephen J. Karsen, an American science teacher working in Daejeon, South Korea, in 2003, and described in 2005. Although plethodontid salamanders comprise seventy percent of salamander species worldwide, Karsenia koreana is the first member of this taxon known from Asia. Like other plethodontids, it lacks lungs and breathes through its moist skin. It is the only species in the genus Karsenia.
Slender salamander is the name often given to Plethodontid (lungless) salamanders of the genus Batrachoseps. They are distinguished from other lungless salamanders by their four toes on each foot. Their mature red blood cells have no nucleus, which is a trait that is only known to occur in mammals and certain species of fish. Their range is from Oregon and California (USA) to northern Baja California (Mexico). Batracho-seps means "frog-lizard". Their main diet consists of small insects, such as springtails, small bark beetles, crickets, young snails, mites, and spiders. Like all salamanders in this family, they use their projectile tongue to grab their prey in a flash. California Slender Salamanders are tolerating of their surroundings as long as key considerations are met.
Eurycea neotenes is a species of entirely aquatic, lungless salamander native to the United States. It is endemic to central Texas, near Helotes, in Bexar County.
Climbing salamanders is the common name for plethodontid (lungless) salamanders of the genus Aneides. As this name suggests, most of these species have prehensile tails and are as mobile up a tree as in a stream. All six species inhabit mountain ecosystems, and all but two are found primarily in the mountains of California.
Bolitoglossa is a genus of lungless salamanders, also called mushroom-tongued salamanders, tropical climbing salamanders, or web-footed salamanders, in the family Plethodontidae. Their range is between northern Mexico through Central America to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, northeastern Brazil, and central Bolivia. Neotropical salamanders of the Bolitoglossa make up the largest genus in the order Caudata, consisting of approximately one-fifth of all known species of salamanders. Adult salamanders range anywhere from 45mm to 200mm in length depending on their specific species. They are notorious for their ability to project their tongue at prey items, as indicated from their name. They are also known for their webbed feet, having significantly more webbing than any other species outside their genus with the exception of the cave-dwelling Mexican bolitoglossine Chiropterotriton magnipes. Although webbed feet are a common characteristic of these salamanders, only about half of the species in this genus contain webbed feet.
The northern banana salamander, also known as common dwarf salamander or rufescent salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is found in the Atlantic slopes of Meso-America from San Luis Potosi, Veracruz, and northern Chiapas in Mexico continuing on to the southern part of Guatemala, Belize, and northern Honduras. However, its range south of Mexico is uncertain because the records may refer to other species.
The graceful splayfoot salamander or graceful flat-footed salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the Tamaulipas state in northeastern Mexico. Its type locality is near Gómez Farías, Tamaulipas.
Álvarez del Toro's hidden salamander or Álvarez del Toro's salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Mexico where it is known from its type locality near Jitotol as well as a nearby site on the Mexican Plateau in the Chiapas state.
The seepage salamander is a small, terrestrial species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the United States. They are found in small areas of Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, intermittent rivers, and freshwater springs. It gets its name from the seepages around which it lives. It is very similar in its appearance and life history to the pygmy salamander. These two species differ greatly from the other Desmognathus species. They are the smallest salamanders in the genus, measuring only 3–5 cm (1–2 in) in length. They are also the only two terrestrial, direct-developing Desmognathus species. However, the two species are not often seen to coexist, differing in distribution by elevation; although there are exceptions. The seepage salamander is currently listed as Near Threatened, with its numbers declining in most of states in which it is found. It is threatened by habitat loss, with logging having a major effect.
Desmognathus fuscus is a species of amphibian in the family Plethodontidae. The species is commonly called the dusky salamander or northern dusky salamander to distinguish it from populations in the southern United States which form a separate species, the southern dusky salamander. The northern dusky salamander is the most widespread representative of its genus in Canada. It can be found in eastern North America from extreme eastern Canada in New Brunswick south into the panhandle of Florida and west to Louisiana. The size of the species' total population is unknown, but is assumed to easily exceed 100,000. The species' habitat differs somewhat geographically; dusky salamanders in the northern part of the range prefer rocky woodland streams, seepages, and springs, while those in the south favor floodplains, sloughs, and muddy places along upland streams. They are most common where water is running or trickling. They hide under various objects, such as leaves or rocks, either in or near water. Alternatively, they may enter burrows for protection. The dusky salamander lays its eggs close to water under moss or rocks, in logs, or in stream-bank cavities. The larval stage which follows is normally aquatic.
Hydromantes, commonly referred to as web-toed salamanders, is a genus of the lungless salamander family, Plethodontidae; they achieve respiration through their skin and the tissues lining their mouth. They are endemic to northern California, USA. Salamanders of this genus are distinguished in having extremely long tongues that they can project to 80% of their body length. Similar species endemic to southern France and Italy are now classified in a distinct genus, Speleomantes.
Ainsworth's salamander is an extinct species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It was endemic to the United States and only known from its type series collected in Jasper County, Mississippi in 1964. Later research has cast doubt to its validity; it might be a junior synonym of Plethodon mississippi.
The Yonahlossee salamander is a particularly large woodland salamander from the southern Appalachian Mountains in the United States. The species is a member of the family Plethodontidae, which is characterized by being lungless and reproductive direct development. P. yonahlossee was first described in 1917 by E.R Dunn on a collection site on Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. The common and specific name is of Native American origin, meaning “trail of the bear”. It is derived from Yonahlossee Road northeast of Linville, where the specimen was first described.
Pseudoeurycea lynchi is a species of salamanders in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the central Sierra Madre Oriental in Veracruz and Puebla states, Mexico. Its common name is Veracruz green salamander.
The red salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae endemic to the Eastern United States. Its skin is orange/red with random black spots. Its habitats are temperate forests, small creeks, ponds, forests, temperate shrubland, rivers, intermittent rivers, freshwater, trees springs. Overall this species is common and widespread, but locally it has declined because of habitat loss and it is considered threatened in Indiana. Red salamanders eat insects, earthworms, spiders, small crustaceans, snails and smaller salamanders. The red salamander, as a member of the family Plethodontidae, lacks lungs and respires through its skin.
Speleomantes, the European cave salamanders, is a genus of salamanders in the family Plethodontidae, commonly known as the lungless salamanders. It is one of two genera in the family to inhabit the Old World, with the remaining 250 or so species being found in North, Central and South America. This genus is endemic to Italy and a few nearby areas.
The many-lined salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is monotypic within the genus Stereochilus. It is endemic to the United States.
Urspelerpes brucei, the patch-nosed salamander, is a lungless miniature salamander found in streams of Georgia and South Carolina, United States. The species is the sole member of the genus Urspelerpes within the family Plethodontidae. It marks the first discovery of an endemic amphibian genus from the United States since the Red Hills salamander (Phaeognathus) in 1961.
