#plethodontidae

Mud Salamander (Pseudotriton montanus), family Plethodontidae, NC, USA

Poisonous.

In the "lungless salamander" family. Salamanders in this family breathe by absorbing oxygen through the lining of the mouth and throat (bucco-pharyngeal respiration), as well as absorbing oxygen through the skin.

A black chinned red salamander (Pseudotriton ruber schencki) in the Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina, USA

Can you guess how the slimy salamander got its name?

Here's a hint: It's because of all the slime it produces! When threatened, slimy salamanders produce large amounts of an adhesive mucus that can glue the jaws of potential predators together, giving the salamander time to escape.

Natural inspiration

Martha Muñoz has shown that organisms can influence their own evolution—a lesson she’s passing on to her students

The southern Appalachians are a diversity hot spot for these creatures (lungless salamanders), but many of the roughly 30 species of lungless salamanders here look similar. Their environment also seems uniform, at least at first glance—creating a puzzle about how so many species could have evolved. Muñoz suspects subtle differences in behavior or habitat may have driven the salamanders to diversify, and she wants to figure out what they could be. ... At Harvard, she worked with evolutionary biologist Jonathan Losos, whose research on Caribbean anoles has become a classic example of how evolution can follow a predictable path.  For decades Losos and his students have studied lizards introduced to new islands, finding that when faced with similar challenges, these newcomers often adapt by evolving similar characteristics...

There are no salamanders living in the Caribbean today, but one tiny fossil shows that this wasn't always the case.

Palaeoplethodon hispaniolae was discovered in a chunk of amber from the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola. The exact age of this type of amber is uncertain, but it most likely dates to the early-to-mid Miocene, about 20-15 million years ago.

The only known specimen is a hatchling, just under 2cm long (0.8"). It's unclear what its full adult size could have been, but based on its modern relatives it may have grown to anywhere between 4.5cm and 20cm long (~2-8").

Its strongly webbed hands and feet suggest it was very closely related to modern tropical climbing salamanders – but Palaeoplethodon had a unique webbing arrangement, with its feet relatively elongated and its hands fully fused into small rounded pads.

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Peter's Mushroomtongue Salamander Bolitoglossa adspersa

A lungless salamander endemic to Colombia.

Near Threatened