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Caecilian
212 species, restricted to tropics, internal fertilization, limbs absent, eyes reduced, tentacles = retractable chemosensory organs

Family Sirenidae
the sirens! fully aquatic - lack pelvic girdles and hind limbs, paedomorphic features (no eyelids, external gills)

Family Cryptobranchidae
Hellbenders and Asiatic giant salamanders! largest extant salamanders, vestigial lungs but cutaneous respiration (hidden gills), also fully aquatic

Cryptobranchus alleganiensis
Hellbender!
largest salamanders in west (mass)
5 toes on hind limbs and 4 on fore limbs (contrast to mudpuppy)
fall breeders, feed on crayfish

Family Salimandridae
newts and european salamanders!
no costal grooves
typically brightly colored, aposematic
Notophthalmus viridescens
Eastern (red-spotted) newt!
habitat generalist, efts in any forest adults in any pond/water body

Family Ambystomatidae
mole salamanders
large stout bodies and limbs with blunt heads
costal grooves, no nasolabial grooves
fossorial except breeding/dispersal migrations
Ambystoma maculatum
spotted salamander
rows of yellow spots, broad head
prominent costal ridges, stout limbs

Ambystoma jeffersonianum
Jefferson’s salamander
brownish gray with light flecking
really long toes?!
broad headed with long tail

Ambystoma laterale
Blue-spotted salamander
the dark one with blue spots duh
remember the A. jeffersonium-laterale complex…
parthenogenetic reproduction with occasional incorporation of sperm

Ambystoma opacum
Marbled salamander
cross-bands from head to tail on black body
sexually dimorphic - males white, females gray
breeds in fall

Ambystoma tigrinum
eastern tiger salamander
stout with strong legs and long, keeled tail
yellow/tan spots or blotches on dark body
new york’s largest terrestrial salamander!
different from spotted salamanders by having yellow under chin, on sides

Family Proteidae
waterdogs, mudpuppies, the olm
fully aquatic, paedomorphic
inhabit streams, lakes, slow rivers
Nacturus maculosus
common mudpuppy
4 toes on ALL 4 LIMBS
fully aquatic, external gills
habitat generalist - any body of water

Family Rhyacotritonidae
torrent salamanders
in coastal PNW
small bodied with reduced lungs
lives in cold, shaded seepages in old growth conifer forest

Family Amphiumidae
“congo snakes”
heavy bodied, eel-like with 4 TINY limbs
paedomorphic, fully aquatic
can survive drought by burrowing and aestivating for 2+ years

Family Plethodontidae
lungless salamanders
most diverse and species-rich salamander family
cutaneous respiration
nasolabial grooves!!!
Desmognathus fuscus
Northern dusky salamander
keeled tail lighter in color
bulky hind legs
eye stripe
streams/seeps in mature forests

Desmognathus ochrophaeus
Allegheny mountain dusky salamander
rounded tail
color variation, but has the dusky features (eye line, stout hind legs)
also streams/seeps of mixed deciduous forests

Eurycea bislineata
northern two-lined salamander
yellow brown, with two black stripes running down back
on land but highly aquatic, rarely far from water

Eurycea longicauda
long-tailed salamander
super long tail!
highly terrestrial as adults - mines, cave mouths, springs, streams

Grynophilus porphyriticus
Spring/purple salamander
largest plethodontid in NYS
light line from eye to nostril bordered by grey pigment
major predator of other salamanders
rocky brooks, seeps, springs, streams

Hemidactylium scutatum
four-toed salamander
white underbelly sprinkled with black dots
constriction at the body-tail junction
posterior limbs have four toes
swamps and woodlands, often with Sphagnum

Plethodon cinereus
eastern red-backed salamander
most abundant salamander in NYS
forest dwellers with direct development
many different color morphs, but you know this one

Plethodon glutinosus
northern slimy salamander
direct development - no water
upland mixed forest, talus slopes
grey with white speckles, stout body

Plethodon wehrlei
Wehrle’s salamander
white or cream flecks with gray belly
webbed feet - no clue why
uphill sections of forest
xeric specialist with high desiccation resistance

Pseudotriton ruber
Red salamander
golden eyes
NO white line along nasolabial grooves
habitat generalist - streams, springs, ponds, bogs in forest
