Cave salamander

Several salamanders that primarily or exclusively inhabit caves have commonly been termed "cave salamanders". Some of these animals have developed special, even extreme, adaptations to their subterranean environments. These adaptations include rudimentary (or even absent) eyes—thus the related term "blind salamanders"—or absence of pigmentation, rendering them a pale yellowish or pinkish color (e.g., Eurycea rathbuni).

With the highly notable exception of Proteus anguinus, all "cave salamanders" are members of the family Plethodontidae ("lungless salamanders").

The first dedicated scientific study of a cave animal was focused upon a cave salamander, Proteus anguinus. It was originally identified as a "dragon's larva" by Johann Weikhard von Valvasor in 1689. Later, the Austrian naturalist Joseph Nicolaus Lorenz described it scientifically in 1768.

Another early scientific description of a cave salamander was undertaken by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1822 while he was a professor of botany and natural history at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. The species he described was known to the locals as a "cave puppet" and is now known to be Eurycea lucifuga. His discovery was not surprising at the time because E. lucifuga inhabits near the entrance of caves, thus an in-depth exploration was not required; and, E. lucifuga is neither blind nor depigmented.

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