Using Fossil Data to Identify Lungless Salamander Kinds

Baraminology is the study of God’s created kinds as described in Genesis 1 (Wise, 1992). Holobaramins are scientific approximations of these kinds identified by building up monobaramins (smaller, continuous groups) and dividing apobaramins (larger, discontinuous groups). The worldwide Flood also aids in approximating created kinds, as the mass extinctions and dramatic shifts in species distributions it caused are preserved in the fossil record. The lungless salamanders (Caudata: Plethodontidae) are composed of over 500 species in 29 genera and have been grouped together by herpetologists for almost 200 years. This indicates that the family represents a cognitum (group of organisms recognized through the human cognitive senses as belonging together) and possibly an apobaramin. Our previous research indicates that lungless salamander holobaramin(s) are found somewhere between the genus and family levels. To further refine this taxonomic range, the present study aims to: 1) search the fossil record of lungless salamanders for evidence of continuity or discontinuity between genera; 2) survey the fossil record of sister taxa (Caudata: Amphiumidae, Rhyacotritonidae) to confirm their discontinuity with the lungless salamanders; 3) examine biogeographical trends in these fossil records; and 4) apply the Post-Flood Continuity Criterion (PFCC) which proposes that baramins should have a continuous fossil record back to at least the Flood, and groups with a first appearance in the fossil record substantially after the Flood are sub-baraminic (Wise, 2009).​