Cryptobranchidae Fitzinger, 1826

Class: Amphibia > Order: Caudata > Family: Cryptobranchidae
6 species

Cryptobranchoidea Fitzinger, 1826, Neue Class. Rept.: 41. Type genus: Cryptobranchus Leuckart, 1821. Explict rank of family

Cryptobranchoidei — Eichwald, 1831, Zool. Special.: 164. Explicit family. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Cryptobranchoidea Fitzinger, 1826.

Menopomatidae Hogg, 1838, Ann. Nat. Hist., London, 1: 152. Type genus: Menopoma Harlan, 1825. Synonymy by Eichwald, 1831, Zool. Special.: 164; by implication of synonymy of Menopoma with Cryptobranchus.

Andriadina  Bonaparte, 1839 "1838", Nuovi Ann. Sci. Nat., Bologna, 2: 125; Bonaparte, 1839, Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat. Neuchâtel, 2: 16. Type genus: Andrias Tschudi, 1837.

Protonopsidina Bonaparte, 1839 "1838", Nuovi Ann. Sci. Nat., Bologna, 2: 125. Type genus: Protonopsis LeConte, 1824.

Menopomina — Bonaparte, 1839, Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat. Neuchâtel, 2 : 16. 

Andriadini — Bonaparte, 1839, Iconograph. Fauna Ital., 2 (Fasc. 26): 131. Type genus: Andrias Tschudi, 1837.

Salamandropes Fitzinger, 1843, Syst. Rept.: 34. Type genus: Salamandrops Wagler, 1830.

Megalobatrachi Fitzinger, 1843, Syst. Rept.: 34. Type genus: Megalobatrachus Tschudi, 1837 (= Andrias Tschudi, 1837). Synonymy by Westphal, 1958, Palaeontographica, Abt. A,, 110: 40.

Andriadidae — Bonaparte, 1845, Specchio Gen. Sist. Erpetol. Anfibiol. Ittiolog.: 6.

Protonopsina — Bonaparte, 1845, Specchio Gen. Sist. Erpetol. Anfibiol. Ittiolog.: 6. Type genus: Protonopsis Le Conte, 1824. 

Andriantidae — Bonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p.

Andriantina — Bonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p.

Sieboldiidae Bonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p. Type genus: Sieboldia Gray, 1838.

Sieboldinae — Bonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p.

Protonopseidae — Bonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p.

Protonopseina — Bonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p.

Protonopsidae — Gray, 1850, Cat. Spec. Amph. Coll. Brit. Mus., Batr. Grad.: 52. Type genus: "Protonopsis Barton, 1824" (= Protonopsis LeConte, 1824). Synonymy with Menopomidae. by Cope, 1875, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 1: 11.

Menopomidae — Cope, 1875, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 1: 12; Jordan, 1878, Man. Vert. North. U.S., Ed. 2: 196.

Menopomida — Smith, 1877, Tailed Amph.: 19; Knauer, 1878, Naturgesch. Lurche: 96.

Cryptobranchidae — Cope, 1889, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 34: 36.

Cryptobranchoidea — Dunn, 1922, Am. Nat., 56: 424. explicit superfamily. Treated as a suborder by Kuhn, 1965, Die Amphib.: 33.

Megalobatrachinae — Kuhn, 1965, Die Amphib.: 99. 

Cryptobranchinae — Regal, 1966, Evolution, 20: 405.

Cryptobranchoidia — Dubois, 2005, Alytes, 23: 17. Epifamily.

Cryptobranchoidea — 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. Explicit superfamily. 

Cryptorchiidae  — Gong, Xu, Huang, Huang, Li, Jiang, Yang, Yu, Zhang, and LI, 2023, Chinese J. Zool., 58: 651. Error for Cryptobranchidae. 

Common Names

Giant Salamanders (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 27).

Menopomes (Jordan, 1878, Man. Vert. North. U.S., Ed. 2: 196).

Hellbenders (Powell, Conant, and Collins, 2016, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. North Am., 4th ed.: 39). 

Distribution

Central China; Japan; eastern USA and southeastern Canada.

Comment

Relationships of fossil and living species were discussed by Westphal, 1958, Palaeontographica, Abt. A,, 110: 20–92; Meszoely, 1966, Am. Midl. Nat., 75: 495–515; Naylor, 1981, Copeia, 1981: 76–86; and Ckhikvadze, 1982, Vert. Hungar., 21: 63–67. Morescalchi, Odierna, and Olmo, 1977, Experientia, 33: 1579–1581, discussed karyological relationships and found large differences between Andrias and Cryptobranchus, justification for recognizing two genera according to Sessions, Leon, and Kezer, 1982, Chromosoma, Berlin, 86: 341–357. Sever, 1991, J. Morphol., 207: 283-301, discussed clocal structure as it reflects phylogeny. Phylogeny was discussed by 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: 1–370, and Larson, Weisrock, and Kozak, 2003, in Sever (ed.), Reprod. Biol. Phylogeny Urodela, and Wiens, Bonett, and Chippindale, 2005, Syst. Biol., 54: 91–110, all of whom found Cryptobranchidae to be the sister taxon of Hynobiidae. Vitt and Caldwell, 2009, Herpetology, 3rd Ed.: 422–423, provided a general taxonomic account as part of a much more general overview. 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. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543–583, confirmed the sister-taxon relationship of Cryptobranchidae and Hynobiidae. 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: 785805, reported on a tree of 11 protein-coding mtDNA genes that confirmed the sister-taxon relationship of Cryptobranchidae and Hynobiidae, as did  Shen, Liang, Feng, Chen, and Zhang, 2013, Mol. Biol. Evol., 30: 2235–2248,on the basis of substantial molecular evidence. Vitt and Caldwell, 2014, Herpetology, 4th Ed., provided a summary of life history, diagnosis, and taxonomy. Browne, Li, Wang, Hime, McMillan, Wu, Diaz, and Zhang, 2012, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 5: 17–29, briefly reviewed the morphology, systematics, paleontology, and phylogeny of the group. Raffaëlli, 2022, Salamanders & Newts of the World: 15–27, provided taxonomic accounts for all cryptobranchids, summarizing systematics, life history, population status, and distribution (including polygon maps). 

Contained taxa (6 sp.):

Andrias Tschudi, 1837 (5 sp.)
Cryptobranchus Leuckart, 1821 (1 sp.)

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