The axolotl is a paedomorphic salamander closely related to the tiger salamander. It is unusual among amphibians in that it reaches adulthood without undergoing metamorphosis. Instead of taking to the land, adults remain aquatic and gilled. The species was originally found in several lakes underlying what is now Mexico City, such as Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco. These lakes were drained by Spanish settlers after the conquest of the Aztec Empire, leading to the destruction of much of the axolotl’s natural habitat.
The tiger salamander is a species of mole salamander and one of the largest terrestrial salamanders in North America.
The spotted salamander or yellow-spotted salamander is a mole salamander common in eastern United States and Canada. It is the state amphibian of Ohio and South Carolina. The species ranges from Nova Scotia, to Lake Superior, to southern Georgia and Texas. Its embryos have been found to have symbiotic algae living in and around them, the only known example of vertebrate cells hosting an endosymbiont microbe.
The California tiger salamander is a vulnerable amphibian native to California. It is a mole salamander. Previously considered to be a subspecies of the tiger salamander, the California tiger salamander was recently designated a separate species again. The California tiger salamander distinct population segment (DPS) in Sonoma County and the Santa Barbara County DPS are listed as federally endangered, while the Central California DPS is listed as federally threatened. The Sonoma County, south San Joaquin, and the Santa Barbara County DPS have diverged from the rest of the California tiger salamander populations for over one million years, since the Pleistocene and they may warrant status as separate species.
The Jefferson salamander is a mole salamander native to the northeastern United States, southern and central Ontario, and southwestern Quebec. It was named after Jefferson College in Pennsylvania.
The blue-spotted salamander is a mole salamander native to the Great Lakes states and northeastern United States, and parts of Ontario and Quebec in Canada. Their range is known to extend to James Bay to the north, and southeastern Manitoba to the west.
The streamside salamander is a species of mole salamander from North America, occurring in several Midwestern states of the US.
The frosted flatwoods salamander is a small, elongated species of mole salamander. It has a small, indistinct head, short legs, and a long, rounded tail. Typical coloration consists of a background of brownish- to purplish-black overlaid with narrow gray or silvery-white reticulations, bands, or diffuse spotting. The gilled aquatic larvae are distinctly colored, having a series of bold brown and yellow longitudinal stripes.
Taylor's salamander is a species of salamander found only in Laguna Alchichica, a high-altitude crater lake to the southwest of Perote, Mexico. It was first described in 1982 but had been known to science prior to that. It is a neotenic salamander, breeding while still in the larval state and not undergoing metamorphosis. The lake in which it lives is becoming increasingly saline and less suitable for the salamander, which is declining in numbers. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has rated it as being "critically endangered".
The blunt-headed salamander is a mole salamander endemic to Mexico. It is only known from the vicinity of its type locality, near Morelia, in Michoacán state in Southwestern Mexico. It inhabits a landscape consisting of a mosaic of natural grasslands and pine-oak forests at elevations of about 2,000 m (6,600 ft) asl. Breeding takes place in ponds.
The Puerto Hondo stream salamander or Michoacan stream salamander is a mole salamander from the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt within the Mexican state of Michoacán.
The small-mouth salamander is a species of mole salamander found in the central United States, from the Great Lakes region in Michigan to Nebraska, south to Texas, and east to Tennessee, with a population in Canada, in Pelee, Ontario. It is sometimes referred to as the Texas salamander, porphyry salamander, or the narrow-mouthed salamander. The Kelley's Island salamander was synonymized with A. texanum in 1995.
Ambystoma talpoideum, the mole salamander, is a species of salamander found in much of the eastern and central United States, from Florida to Texas, north to Illinois, east to Kentucky, with isolated populations in Virginia and Indiana. Older sources often refer to this species as the tadpole salamander because some individuals remain in a neotenic state. This salamander lives among the leaf litter on the forest floor, migrating to ponds to breed.
The barred tiger salamander or western tiger salamander is a species of mole salamander that lives in lower western Canada, the western United States and northern Mexico.
Anderson's crocodile newt, Anderson's newt, Ryukyu spiny newt, or Japanese warty newt is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae found in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, and, at least formerly, Mount Guanyin in northern Taiwan, where it is now believed to be extinct.
The granular salamander or ajolote is a species of mole salamander in the family Ambystomatidae. It is found only in Mexico. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, and ponds. It is threatened by habitat loss and overcropping along with the scaling of their skins.
The Leora's stream salamander or ajolote is a rare species of mole salamander in the family Ambystomatidae. It is endemic to a very small area of land in the Iztaccihuatl-Popocatepetl National Park on the border of the State of Mexico with Puebla, with a single known population on Mount Tlaloc. Its very specific requirements as regards water quality militates against its survival in a habitat where water is being extracted, cattle graze and the salamander has traditionally been eaten as food. It has been listed as a threatened species by the Mexican Government and as "critically endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Ambystoma rivulare is a species of mole salamander in the family Ambystomatidae. Typically gains a lot of population distribution in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt around central Mexico City. Found in various small or medium-sized ponds and lakes that have large and wide range of food options, all within a distance of at least 2 km. It is endemic to Mexico. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and rivers. It is threatened by habitat loss. The larvae, who continue to prey on the same organisms as they grow, prey mainly on ostracods as well as some gastropods and assorted other prey with limited diversity. Ambystoma rivulare continue to live in the river they hatch in post-metamorphosis.
The Tarahumara salamander is a freshwater species of mole salamander in the family Ambystomatidae, endemic to Mexico. Its natural habitats are temperate forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, rivers, freshwater marshes, pastureland, and ponds.
The Sacramento Mountain salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to mountainous regions of New Mexico in the United States. Its natural habitat is temperate forests where it is threatened by habitat loss.
