Amphibiidae

Amphibiidae is a term used in historical taxonomic literature to designate a proposed family within the class Amphibia. It has no standing in current taxonomy.

Historical context: The name emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries as taxonomists attempted to classify amphibians with certain shared traits. Over time, the group was not diagnosed with a clear, synapomorphic suite of characters, and later studies employing anatomical and molecular data did not recover Amphibiidae as a monophyletic lineage.

Current status and usage: In contemporary references, Amphibiidae is generally treated as invalid or as a synonym of other families, with species formerly assigned to Amphibiidae redistributed among Salamandridae, Ambystomatidae, or Pleurodelidae depending on the lineage. Because there is no consistent definition, the name is rarely used in scholarly work today.

In encyclopedic and educational contexts, Amphibiidae is sometimes noted as an example of historical nomenclature and the shift toward phylogeny-based taxonomy. The term may appear in discussions of the history of amphibian classification or in fictional or world-building contexts where taxonomy is invented.