Best Plethodontidae

The Red Hills Salamander (Phaeognathus hubrichti) is a large, terrestrial lungless salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is strictly endemic to the Red Hills region of south-central Alabama, where it inhabits steep, moist, shaded slopes dominated by hardwood trees. The species is classified as...

The Yonahlossee Salamander (Plethodon yonahlossee) is a large lungless salamander belonging to the family Plethodontidae. It is native to the Appalachian Mountains, specifically the Blue Ridge region of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Adults are distinguished by a rust-red or chestnut-color...

The Austin Blind Salamander (Eurycea waterlooensis) is a permanently aquatic, cave-dwelling salamander endemic to Travis County, Texas. As a troglobitic species, it lacks functional eyes and relies on specialized sensory organs to navigate the dark underground aquatic environments of the Edwards Aqu...

Plethodon shenandoah, a federally endangered lungless salamander confined to three talus slopes in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, among the most range-restricted vertebrates in eastern North America.

The Mount Lyell Salamander (Hydromantes platycephalus) is a lungless salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the high-elevation Sierra Nevada mountains of California, specifically found in alpine and subalpine zones. The species relies on granite rock outcrops, talus slopes, and un...

The Mud Salamander (Pseudotriton montanus) is a stout, red-to-salmon-colored salamander of the eastern United States, inhabiting muddy seeps, bogs, and slow streams of the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains.

The Red-legged Salamander (Plethodon shermani) is a lungless amphibian belonging to the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the Appalachian region, specifically restricted to the Unicoi Mountains along the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. The species is readily identified by the distinct...

A critically endangered cave-adapted plethodontid (Hydromantes shastae) endemic to a small region of limestone caves in Shasta County, California, with one of the most restricted ranges of any US salamander.

The Jollyville Plateau Salamander (Eurycea tonkawae) is a federally threatened, permanently aquatic amphibian belonging to the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the karst geology of the Jollyville Plateau in Travis County, Texas, where it strictly inhabits spring-fed streams and subterranean c...

The Tennessee Cave Salamander (Gyrinophilus palleucus) is a permanently neotenic amphibian belonging to the family Plethodontidae. It is strictly endemic to the subterranean cave streams of the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee and adjacent regions. Adapted to life in complete darkness, this species l...

The Georgetown Salamander (Eurycea naufragia) is a federally threatened, permanently aquatic amphibian belonging to the family Plethodontidae. It is known only from a small number of limestone springs located in Williamson County, Texas, near the city of Georgetown. Like other lungless salamanders,...

The Limestone Salamander (Hydromantes brunus) is a rare, lungless amphibian belonging to the family Plethodontidae. It is strictly endemic to a small area of limestone outcrops in Mariposa County, California, primarily within the Merced River canyon. This species relies on moist, rocky crevices to s...

The Berry Cave Salamander (Gyrinophilus gulolineatus) is a large, cave-adapted species of lungless salamander endemic to the Appalachian Valley and Ridge region of eastern Tennessee. It is known exclusively from a small number of limestone cave systems in Roane County and adjacent areas. This fully...

The Cheat Mountain salamander (Plethodon nettingi) is a small, terrestrial lungless salamander federally listed as a threatened species in the United States. It possesses a highly restricted geographic range, occurring only in the high-elevation red spruce forests of the Allegheny Mountains in easte...

The imitator salamander (Desmognathus imitator) is a small, terrestrial lungless salamander belonging to the family Plethodontidae. Endemic to the Appalachian Mountains, it is restricted primarily to the Great Smoky Mountains along the Tennessee-North Carolina border. This species is biologically no...

The Larch Mountain salamander (Plethodon larselli) is a small, terrestrial lungless salamander located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is closely associated with the deep talus slopes and fractured basalt rock fields found along the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon and Washing...

The Comal Springs salamander (Eurycea sp.) is a small, fully aquatic, lungless salamander endemic to the karst spring systems of central Texas. It is exclusively found in the artesian spring outflows of Comal County, an ecosystem entirely dependent on the underground water provided by the Edwards Aq...

The Italian cave salamander (Speleomantes italicus) is a species of lungless salamander belonging to the family Plethodontidae, strictly endemic to central Italy. It primarily inhabits the moist, thermally stable environments of natural and artificial subterranean cavities, such as caves and rock cr...

The Peaks of Otter salamander (Plethodon hubrichti) is a small, lungless amphibian federally recognized as a threatened species. It is geographically isolated to a single stretch of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Bedford County, Virginia, specifically around the Peaks of Otter. Because the species brea...

The imperial cave salamander (Speleomantes imperialis) is a strictly endemic lungless amphibian found exclusively on the island of Sardinia, Italy. It belongs to a specialized group of salamanders that lack lungs, requiring it to respire entirely through its skin in the highly humid microclimates of...

The northern slimy salamander (Plethodon glutinosus) is a large, entirely terrestrial species of lungless salamander widespread across the forested regions of the eastern United States. As a defense mechanism against predators, it possesses specialized skin glands that secrete a thick, sticky, and d...

Van Dyke's Salamander (Plethodon vandykei) is a lungless salamander in the family Plethodontidae, endemic to Washington state. Named after entomologist Edwin Van Dyke, it inhabits moist rocky habitats near streams and seeps in the Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains. Adults are medium-sized for the...

Plethodon punctatus is a lungless salamander in the family Plethodontidae, endemic to a narrow high-elevation band along the Shenandoah Mountain ridge straddling Virginia and West Virginia. It inhabits mature hardwood and mixed forests at elevations above approximately 900 meters, where individuals...

The Blanco Blind Salamander (Eurycea robusta) is a rare, depigmented aquatic salamander from the Edwards Plateau of Hays County, Texas, known from very few specimens collected from underground waters.

Speleomantes strinatii is a lungless salamander in the family Plethodontidae, with a restricted range spanning the Ligurian Alps of northwestern Italy and a small adjacent area of southeastern France. It belongs to a genus of European cave and rock-crevice salamanders that is unusual among plethodon...

Plethodon stormi is a lungless salamander in the family Plethodontidae, restricted to a small geographic range in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon and northern California. It inhabits moss-covered talus slopes and forested areas with cool, moist microclimates, particularly in association wi...

Eurycea troglodytes is a cave-adapted lungless salamander in the family Plethodontidae, endemic to the Valdina Farms Sinkhole system in Medina County, Texas. It is one of several Eurycea salamanders associated with the subterranean aquatic habitats of the Edwards Plateau karst region in central Texa...

The Pigeon Mountain Salamander (Plethodon petraeus) is a lungless salamander endemic to Pigeon Mountain in Walker County, Georgia, USA, and one of the most geographically restricted vertebrates in North America.

Desmognathus fuscus is a lungless salamander in the family Plethodontidae, widely distributed across eastern North America. Its range extends from New Brunswick in Canada southward through the Appalachian region to the Gulf Coast states. Adults are typically brown or grayish with variable darker mar...