Climbing salamanders is the common name for plethodontid (lungless) salamanders of the genus Aneides. It contains 10 species native to North America, distributed between the Pacific Coast (7 species), Sacramento Mountains (1 species), and Appalachian Mountains (2 species). As their common name suggests, most of these species have prehensile tails and are quite mobile in trees.
The green salamander (A. aeneus) and the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander (A. caryaensis) are now considered to belong to their own subgenus Castaneides, which diverged from the Aneides hardii lineage between 27.2 and 32.3 million years ago, during the Oligocene. Castaneides contains significant cryptic diversity and may contain more as-of-yet undescribed species.[1] All other western Aneides including A. hardii are considered Aneides sensu stricto, and belong to the subgenus of the same name.
All ten known species in this genus inhabit mountain ecosystems in North America, and all but three are found primarily in the mountains of the west coast of the United States, Baja California and British Columbia. Of the three non-western species, the Sacramento Mountain salamander (A. hardii) is endemic to a mountainous region in New Mexico, while the two currently-described Castaneides species are endemic to the Appalachian Mountains of eastern United States.[1]
Ten species in two subgenera are currently assigned to this genus:
| Subgenus | Image | Binomial Name and Author | Common Name | Distribution | IUCN status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castaneides(Patton et al., 2019) | Aneides aeneus | Green salamander | Eastern United States (Appalachian Mountains, southwest Pennsylvania to northeast Mississippi) | Near Threatened | |
| Aneides caryaensis | Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander | Hickory Nut Gorge area of southwest North Carolina | Critically Endangered | ||
| Aneides(Baird, 1851) | |||||
| Aneides ferreus | Clouded salamander | Pacific Coast of the United States (northernmost California to southernmost Washington) | Least Concern | ||
| Aneides flavipunctatus | Speckled black salamander | Pacific Coast of northern California | Least Concern | ||
| Aneides hardii | Sacramento Mountain salamander | Sacramento Mountains of south-central New Mexico | Near Threatened | ||
| Aneides iecanus | Shasta black salamander | Shasta Mountains of northern California | Endangered | ||
| Aneides klamathensis | Klamath black salamander | Pacific Coast of the United States (northern California and southernmost Oregon) | Least Concern | ||
| Aneides lugubris | Arboreal salamander | Southern Pacific Coast of North America (California to northernmost Baja California) | Least Concern | ||
| Aneides niger | Santa Cruz black salamander | Santa Cruz Mountains of California | Endangered | ||
| Aneides vagrans | Wandering salamander | Pacific Coast of North America (northern California and Vancouver Island) | Least Concern |
A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Aneides.