Plethodon is a genus of salamanders in the family Plethodontidae. They are also known as woodland salamanders or, more rarely, slimy salamanders. All members of the genus are endemic to North America. They have no aquatic larval stage. In some species, such as Plethodon cinereus, the red-backed salamander, eggs are laid underneath a stone or log. Young hatch in the adult form. Members of Plethodon primarily eat small invertebrates. The earliest known fossils of this genus are from the Hemphillian of Tennessee in the United States.
The southern red-backed salamander is a species of salamander endemic to the United States. It is found in four widely disjunct populations: one in central Louisiana; one in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma; one in central Missouri; and one from southeastern Tennessee, to southwestern North Carolina, western Georgia, and eastern Alabama. It is sometimes referred to as the Georgia red-backed salamander or the Ouachita red-backed salamander. It was once considered a subspecies of the red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus.
Van Dyke's salamander is a small woodland salamander in the family Plethodontidae, the lungless salamanders. These animals breathe through their skin and are largely terrestrial. Compared to other salamanders in Plethodon it is relatively stocky with long legs. Usually associated with streams, seepages, and rock outcrops, it is endemic to Washington where it is found in a limited number of small, isolated populations.
The Cheat Mountain salamander is a species of small woodland salamander in the family Plethodontidae. The species is found only on Cheat Mountain, and a few nearby mountains, in the eastern highlands of West Virginia. It and the West Virginia spring salamander are the only vertebrate species with geographic ranges restricted to that state.
The Fourche Mountain salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae endemic to the Ouachita Mountains in the central United States. Its natural habitat is temperate forests and it is threatened by habitat loss.
The Peaks of Otter salamander is a species of salamanders in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the Peaks of Otter area in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. It is a montane salamander found at elevations above 442 m (1,450 ft), but more commonly above 760 m (2,490 ft). It can be locally common, but its distribution is small and patchy. This makes it vulnerable to local threats such as timber harvesting, recreational development, defoliation by gypsy moths, and spraying to control the latter.
The red-cheeked salamander, also known as the Jordan's salamander, Jordan's redcheek salamander, or Appalachian woodland salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States.
The Kiamichi slimy salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae endemic to the United States, has a natural habitat of temperate forests, and is found over a small range. This nocturnal species is mainly threatened by habitat loss and was first described by Highton in 1989. It is rated as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The Rich Mountain salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the Ouachita Mountains in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Plethodon punctatus, commonly known as the Cow Knob salamander or white-spotted salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to high mountain forests on the border of Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. Nearly all occurrences are on Shenandoah Mountain, Nathaniel Mountain and Great North Mountain in George Washington National Forest. Cow Knob salamanders are a member of the P. wehrlei species complex, which includes many other Appalachian salamanders historically referred to Plethodon wehrlei.
The Shenandoah salamander is a small, terrestrial salamander found exclusively in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The Shenandoah salamander inhabits a very small range of land on just three mountain peaks. Due to the small habitat range, interspecies competition, and climate change, the population of the Shenandoah salamander is vulnerable to extinction. Mitigating human effects on the habitat of the species will be essential in attempting to preserve and grow the population.
The Big Levels salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to Virginia in the eastern United States. First described in 2004, it derives its specific name, sherando, from Sherando Lake in the George Washington National Forest. Its common name refers to the Big Levels area of southeastern Augusta County, Virginia, a series of flat to gently rolling mountain tops in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where it was found.
The red-legged salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. Formerly considered a subspecies of Plethodon jordani, it is native to the mountain forests of the southeastern United States.
The southern Appalachian salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae.
The Webster's salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the southeast United States, in patchy and disjunct lowland subpopulations ranging from South Carolina to Louisiana. Its natural habitat is mixed mesophytic temperate forests, in association with rocky streams and outcrops.
The green salamander is a species of lungless salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It and the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander are the only currently-described members of the genus Aneides that inhabit any areas in the eastern half of United States. Rarely seen in the field, the green salamander is an extremely habitat-specific species that is seldom found away from its preferred surroundings: moist, shaded rock crevices.
