family Plethodontidae

Lungless salamander

Lungless salamanders (family Plethodontidae) are distinguished from other families of salamanders by the following traits:

No lungs. They conduct respiration through their skin and the tissues lining their mouths.
Frequently no aquatic larval stage. In many species eggs are laid on land and young hatch already possessing an adult body form.
Naso-labial groove. A slit lined with glands between the nostril and upper lip, used for chemoreception.

Measured in individual numbers, they are very successful tetrapods in areas where they occur. Some places they make up the dominant biomass of vertebrates. Due to their modest size and low metabolism, they are able to feed on prey such as collembola, which is usually too small for other terrestrial vertebrates, which gives them a whole ecological niche for themselves they can specialize in without competition from other groups.

Taxonomy

Plethodontidae includes many genera grouped under two subfamilies. Nearly four hundred species of plethodontid salamanders are known, making up the majority of known species . Only two of these species are found outside the Western hemisphere.

The family Plethodontidae consists of 4 subfamilies and about 380 species divided among the following genera:

Subfamily	Genus Scientific Name and Author	Genus Common name
Bolitoglossinae
	Batrachoseps	Slender salamanders
	Bolitoglossa	Tropical climbing salamanders
	Bradytriton	Finca Chiblac salamander
	Chiropterotriton	Splay-foot salamanders
	Cryptotriton	Hidden salamanders
	Dendrotriton	Bromeliad salamanders
	Nototriton	Moss salamanders
	Nyctanolis	Long-limbed salamanders
	Oedipina	Worm salamanders
	Parvimolge	Tropical dwarf salamanders
	Pseudoeurycea	False brook salamanders
	Thorius	Minute salamanders
Hemidactyliinae	Hemidactylium	Four-toed salamander
Plethodontinae	Aneides	Climbing salamanders
	Atylodes	Sardinian Cave Salamander
	Desmognathus	Dusky salamanders
	Ensatina	Ensatinas
	Hydromantes	Web-toed & European cave sals
	Karsenia	Korean crevice salamanders
	Phaeognathus	Red Hills salamanders
	Plethodon	Slimy & mountain salamanders
	Speleomantes	Cave Salamanders
Spelerpinae	Eurycea	North American brook salamanders
	Gyrinophilus	Spring salamanders
	Pseudotriton	Mud and red salamanders
	Stereochilus	Many-lined salamanders

Following a major revision in 2006 the genus Haideotriton was found to be a synonym of Eurycea while the genera Ixalotriton and Lineatriton were made synonyms of Pseudoeurycea.