Amphibian animals belonging to order Caudata were listed 9 families, 61 genera, and about 360 species at present (Frost1985). Supposedly, less than 50% of these species were karyologically analysed. The present study overviewed current published data on salamander cytogenetics, which particularlly have been undertaken with modern techniques of chromosomology, for understanding their course of the chromosome evolution.
Karyotypes of the salamander families demonstrated a considerable variety from a primitive type like Cryptobrancoidea to a derived type like Plethodontidae. The paper mainly describes how much karyological characters have affinity to phenotypical characters in consider to their phylogenetic position.
Systematic relations of caudate amphibians have been widely studied from both morphological and biochemical standpoints. We realized, however, that the karyological in formation has not been adequately obtained for illustrating the karyoevolution of these animals. The a㏄umulation of molecular cytogenetic evidence will contribute the salamander phylogeny in future.