Salamandridae Goldfuss, 1820

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Salamandridae
143 species

Salamandrae Goldfuss, 1820, Handb. Zool., 2: 129. Type genus: Salamandra Laurenti, 1768.

SalamandridaeGray, 1825, Ann. Philos., London, Ser. 2, 10: 215; Bonaparte, 1840, Nuovi Ann. Sci. Nat., Bologna, 4: 100.

SalamandroideaFitzinger, 1826, Neue Class. Rept.: 41. Explicit family.

Tritonidae Boie, 1828, Isis von Oken, 21: 363. Type genus: Triton Laurenti, 1768.

Cercopi Wagler, 1828, Isis von Oken, 21: 859. Unavailable name formed explicitly as a family containing "Salamandra etc.".

SalamandrinaHemprich, 1829, Grundniss Naturgesch. Höhere Lehr., Ed. 2: xix; Wiegmann, 1832, in Wiegmann and Ruthe (eds.), Handbuch der Zool., Amph.: 203; Bonaparte, 1838, Nuovi Ann. Sci. Nat., Bologna, 1: 393; Bonaparte, 1840, Nuovi Ann. Sci. Nat., Bologna, 4: 101.

SalamandroideaSchinz, 1833, Naturgesch. Abbild Rept.: 202.

Tritones Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 26. Type genus: Triton Laurenti, 1768.

Tritonides Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 26. Type genus: Triton Laurenti, 1768.

Pleurodeles Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 26. Type genus: Pleurodeles Michahelles, 1830.

Pleurodelina Bonaparte, 1839, Iconograph. Fauna Ital., 2 (Fasc. 26): unnumbered;  Bonaparte, 1839, Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat. Neuchâtel, 2: 16; Bonaparte, 1840, Nuovi Ann. Sci. Nat., Bologna, 4: 11. Type genus: Pleurodeles Michahelles, 1830. Treated as a subfamily of Salamandridae.

SalamandrinaBonaparte, 1839, Iconograph. Fauna Ital., 2 (Fasc. 26): unnumbered; Bonaparte, 1840, Nuovi Ann. Sci. Nat., Bologna, 4: 11; Bonaparte, 1840, Mem. Accad. Sci. Torino, Ser. 2, 2: 395; Leunis, 1844, Synops. Drei Naturr., Zool., Ed. 1: 147; Leunis, 1860, Synops. Drei Naturr., Zool., Ed. 2: 341. 341.

PleurodelaeFitzinger, 1843, Syst. Rept.: 33. Subsequent usage of "Pleurodelae Tschud."

Salamandrinae Fitzinger, 1843, Syst. Rept.: 33. Type genus: Salamandrina Fitzinger, 1826.

TritoninesBronn, 1849, Handb. Geschich. Natur, 5: 683.

SalamandridaeBronn, 1849, Handb. Geschich. Natur, 5: 683.

PleurodelidaeBonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p.

PleurodelinaBonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p.

Bradybatina Bonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p. Type genus: Bradybates Tschudi, 1838. Synonymy by XXX.

Tritonina Bonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p. Type genus: Triton Laurenti, 1768 (= Triturus Rafinesque, 1815).  

Geotritonidae Bonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p. Type genus: Geotriton Bonaparte, 1832 (= Lissotriton Bell, 1839).

GeotritoninaBonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p.

Seiranotina Gray, 1850, Cat. Spec. Amph. Coll. Brit. Mus., Batr. Grad.: 29. Type genus: Seiranota Barnes, 1826 (= Salamandrina Fitzinger, 1826). Synonymy with Pleurodelidae by Cope, 1875, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 1: 11. Synonymy with Salamandridae byBoulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Grad. Batr. Apoda Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 2.

PleurodeliniMassalongo, 1853, Nuovi Ann. Sci. Nat., Bologna, Ser. 3, 7: 11.

SalamandriniMassalongo, 1853, Nuovi Ann. Sci. Nat., Bologna, Ser. 3, 7: 11.

PleurodelidaeHallowell, 1856, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 8: 10.

SeiranotidaeHallowell, 1856, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 8: 10; Hallowell, 1858, J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Ser. 2, 3: 337.

TritonidaeHallowell, 1856, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 8: 10.

SalamandridaJan, 1857, Cenni Mus. Civ. Milano: 54; Strauch, 1870, Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersbourg, Ser. 7, 16 (4): 14. Explicit family.

SalamandroideaWied-Neuwied, 1865, Nova Acta Phys. Med. Acad. Caesar Leopold Carol., Halle, 32: 124. Explicit family.

Mecodonta Strauch, 1870, Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersbourg, Ser. 7, 16 (4): 108. Tribe within family Salamandrida.

SalamandroideaeGarman, 1884, Bull. Essex Inst., 16: 37. Implied superfamily.

SalamandridiAcloque, 1900, Fauna de France, 1: 491.

TritonidiAcloque, 1900, Fauna de France, 1: 491.

SalamandroideaeStejneger, 1907, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 58: 3. Explicit superfamily.

SalamandroideaDunn, 1922, Am. Nat., 56: 423. Explicit superfamily.

SalamandroidaeHay, 1930, Carnegie Inst. Publ., 390(1): 848. Superfamily.

Triturinae Brame, 1957, List World’s Recent Caudata: 9. Type genus: Triturus Rafinesque, 1815. Unavailable name due to being distributed by mimeograph.

Voigtiellinae Brame, 1958, List World’s Fossil Caudata: 4. Type Genus: Voigtiella Herre, 1949. Unavailable name due to being distributed by mimeograph.

Triturinae Kuhn, 1965, Die Amphib.: 37. Type genus: Triturus Rafinesque, 1815. Attributed to Brame, 1957.

SalamandroidiaDubois, 2005, Alytes, 23: 19. Epifamily.

Salamandrininae — Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 64.

SalamandroidaeDubois and Raffaëlli, 2012, Alytes, 28: 148. Epifamily.

Salamandroidea — Hime, Lemmon, Lemmon, Prendini, Brown, Thomson, Kratovil, Noonan, Pyron, Peloso, Kortyna, Keogh, Donnellan, Mueller, Raxworthy, Kunte, Das, Gaitonde, Green, Labisko, Che, and Weisrock, 2021, Syst. Biol., 70: 56.

Nomina inquirenda - Name(s) unassigned to a living or extinct population

Triton utinensis Laurenti, 1768, Spec. Med. Exhib. Synops. Rept.: 38. Type(s): Not designated, although references to "Matthiolus, Gesnerus" made, possibly being type designations by indication. Type locality: "Utinae in paludibus opacis limosis" (= Udine, northeastern Italy). Regarded as part of his composite Lacerta lacustris by Gmelin, 1789, Syst. Nat., Ed. 13, 1(3): 1065.

Salamandra quaturolineata Lacépède, 1788, Hist. Nat. Quadrup. Ovip. Serpens, Quarto ed., 1: Table following page 618. Types: Not stated, although likely original in MNHNP. Type locality: Not stated. Work (and all contained names) suppressed as nonbinominal by Opinion 2104, Anonymous, 2005, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 62: 55.).

Salamandra cauda-plana Lacépède, 1788, Hist. Nat. Quadrup. Ovip. Serpens, 16mo ed., 2: 211. Lacépède, 1788, Hist. Nat. Quadrup. Ovip. Serpens, Quarto ed., 1: Table following page 618 (and referencing account starting on 471. Type(s): Not stated, although likely originally in MNHNP, and including animals described or illustrated by a number of authors indicated on page 211, as well as specimens illustrated on plate facing page 471 of 4to edition. Type locality: Not stated but implied to include France. Apparently intended as a collective replacement name for many nominal taxa including Lacerta aquatica Linnaeus and Triton cristatus Laurenti. Work (and all contained names) suppressed as nonbinominal by Opinion 2104, Anonymous, 2005, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 62: 55).

English Names

Newts (Cochran, 1961, Living Amph. World: 25; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 35; Stebbins, 2003, Field Guide W. Rept. Amph., Ed. 3: 164).

Fire Salamanders (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 35).

European Salamanders (Halliday and Adler, 2002, New Encyclop. Rept. Amph.: 48).

True Salamanders (Anders, 2002, in Schleich and Kästle (eds.), Amph. Rept. Nepal: 133).

Distribution

From the British Isles and Scandinavia eastward to the Ural Mountains, southward into the Iberian Peninsula, northwest Africa, and Asia Minor; north-central India and China to northern Vietnam; extreme northwestern Africa; southern Canada and the USA to extreme northern Mexico.

Comment

Intrafamilial relationships were discussed by Wake and Özeti, 1969, Copeia, 1969: 124–137; Hayashi and Matsui, 1989, in Matsui et al. (eds.), Curr. Herpetol. E. Asia: 157–167; and Veith, Steinfartz, Zardoya, Seitz, and Meyer, 1998, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 36: 7–16. Titus and Larson, 1995, Syst. Biol., 44: 125–151, provided a phylogenetic perspective on the group based on DNA sequences. Scholz, 1995, Acta Biol. Benrodis, 7: 25–75, provided a cladistic analysis based on morphology and courtship behavior. Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 175, recognized two sister subfamilies, Pleurodelinae and Salamandrinae, but did not include Salamandrina their analysis. Weisrock, Papenfuss, Macey, Litvinchuk, Polymeni, Uğurtaş, Zhao, Jowkar, and Larson, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 41: 368–383, provided a detailed molecular phylogenetic study that suggested that the placement of Salamandrina was arguable. Zhang, Papenfuss, Wake, Qu, and Wake, 2008, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 49: 586–597, provided another analysis in which Salamandrina was placed as the sister taxon of "true" salamanders (Salamandrinae) + newts (Pleurodelinae). Fei, Ye, Huang, Jiang, and Xie, 2005, in Fei et al. (eds.), Illust. Key Chinese Amph.: 40–48, provided keys to the species of China. Steinfartz, Vicario, Arntzen, and Caccone, 2007, J. Exp. Zool., 308B: 139–162, provided a Bayesian tree of three mDNA genes for salamandrids with special reference to Triturus (sensu lato). Vitt and Caldwell, 2009, Herpetology, 3rd Ed.: 426–428, provided a general taxonomic account and map as part of a much more general and extensive overview of biology. Dubois and Raffaëlli, 2009, Alytes, 26: 1–85, discussed the published evidence, and from that derived a taxonomy and nomenclature of the family, recognizing three subfamilies: Salamandrininae + (Pleurodelinae + Salamandrinae). Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543–583 (see comment in Amphibia record) provided as part of a larger molecular analysis of legacy sequences confirmed the monophyly of and relationship of the three subfamilies posited by Dubois and Raffaëlli (2009). Zhang and Wake, 2009, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 53: 492–508, reported on molecular phylogenetics of salamanders based on mtDNA and provided an estimate of time since origin of the salamander families. Zheng, Peng, Kuro-o, and Zeng, 2011, Mol. Biol. Evol., 28: 2521–2535, reported on the estimated time of origin of this taxon. Blackburn and Wake, 2011, In Zhang (ed.), Zootaxa, 3148: 39–55, briefly reviewed the taxonomic history of this taxon. Chen, Wang, Liu, Xie, and Jiang, 2011, Curr. Zool., Chengdu, 57: 785–805, on the basis of 11 protein-coding mtDNA genes, suggested that Salamandridae is the sister taxon of all other salamanders and that the relationship of the subfamilies is Pleurodelinae + (Salamandrinae + Salamandrininae). Shen, Liang, Feng, Chen, and Zhang, 2013, Mol. Biol. Evol., 30: 2235–2248, on the basis of even more molecular evidence found Salamandridae to be the sister taxon of Ambystomatidae. Vitt and Caldwell, 2014, Herpetology, 4th Ed., provided a summary of life history, diagnosis, and taxonomy. Sparreboom, 2014, Salamanders Old World: 170–385, reviewed the biology, characteristics, distribution, reproduction, and conservation of the species of Africa, Europe, and Asia. Fei and Ye, 2016, Amph. China, 1: 262–418, provided photographs, range maps, and accounts for the Chinese species. Veith, Bogaerts, Pasmans, and Kieren, 2018, PLoS One, 13(8: e0198237): 1–16, reviewed the controversies in salamandrid systematics. Kieren, Sparreboom, Hochkirch, and Veith, 2018, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 121: 98–109, reported on the biogeographic and ecologicalevolution of reproductive behavior in the family. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 184–476, provided species accounts, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including a polygon map). 

Contained taxa (143 sp.):

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