Hellbender: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the hellbender lives – recorded in 1 country, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Cryptobranchus alleganiensis
Group	Salamanders, newts & caecilians
Status	Vulnerable (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	1 country
Continents	North America
Class	Amphibian
Order	Caudata
Family	Cryptobranchidae

Where does the hellbender live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the hellbender in 1 country or territory across North America. Wikidata lists it as endemic to United States.

United States

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the hellbender endangered?

The hellbender’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Vulnerable” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the hellbender?

The hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is an amphibian in the order Caudata and the family Cryptobranchidae, genus Cryptobranchus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the hellbender

The hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis), also known as the hellbender salamander, is a species of aquatic giant salamander endemic to the eastern and central United States. It is the largest salamander in North America. A member of the family Cryptobranchidae, the hellbender is the only extant member of the genus Cryptobranchus. Other closely related salamanders in the same family are in the genus Andrias, which contains the Japanese and Chinese giant salamanders. The hellbender is much larger than any other salamander in its geographic range, and employs an unusual adaption for respiration through cutaneous gas exchange via capillaries found in its lateral skin folds. It fills a particular niche—both as a predator and prey—in its ecosystem, which either it or its ancestors have occupied for around 65 million years. The species is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to the impacts of disease and widespread habitat loss and degradation throughout much of its range. Eastern hellbender populations are dropping quickly across most of their range, nearly 80% are declining or disappearing altogether. A reason for this is the loss of forest along streams, which they rely on to keep their habitats stable and clean. In many places, the populations are mostly older individuals, with few young hellbenders showing up to replace them.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Hellbender (revision 1378956909), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q369467 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).