 It was described (and named) by N. Bayard Green in 1938.This salamander and the Peaks of Otter salamander ("P. hubrichti"), which has a similarly restricted range in Virginia, were once considered subspecies of a single species -- Netting's salamander—but since 1979 they (along with the Shenandoah salamander, "P. shenandoah") have been considered separate, full species.Their ranges were both probably much larger in the past.