Ambystomatidae

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Ambystomatidae
Tiger Salamander-Florida.jpg
Tiger salamander
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Suborder: Salamandroidea
Family: Ambystomatidae
Gray, 1850
Genera

Ambystomatidae is a family of salamanders belonging to the Suborder Salamandroidea in the class Amphibia. It contains two genera, Ambystoma (the mole salamanders) and Dicamptodon (the Pacific giant salamanders). Ambystoma contains 32 species and are distributed widely across North America, while Dicamptodon contains four species restricted to the Pacific Northwest. [1] These salamanders are mostly terrestrial and eat invertebrates, although some species are known to eat smaller salamanders. They can be found throughout the US and some areas of Canada in damp forests or plains. This family contains some of the largest terrestrial salamanders in the world, the tiger salamander and the coastal giant salamander. Some species are toxic and can secrete poison from their bodies as protection against predators or infraspecific competition. Neoteny has been observed in several species in Ambystomatidae, and some of them like the axolotl live all of their lives under water in their larval stage.

Contents

Characteristics and Behavior

Ambystomatids have chunky bodies with broad, flat heads and short legs. Tails are long and flattened. Colors range from black, brown, or a dull grey and can have brightly colored speckles or spots. Their skin is smooth and shiny. Most adults lack gills/gill slits and moveable eyes. There are no nasolabial grooves on the snout. Lungs are well-developed and functional. They have 10 costal grooves. Adult males have 6 sets of cloacal glands. Adult females have spermathecae in cloaca. Ambystomatids are nocturnal. Although they are more active at night, they may be found on cool days under moist leaf litter, logs, or rocks near water bodies. [2]

Adults tend to live in burrows and only return to waterbodies or streams to breed in early Spring. Fertilization is internal. Courtship occurs in water; males "dance," nudging the females then deposit numerous spermatophores. Most species have a larval period that extends for 3–4 months. Ambystomatids can be found in temperate forests and wetlands. [3]

Taxonomy

The genus Rhyacotriton was formerly included in this family, but is now usually placed into its own family Rhyacotritonidae. In 2006, a large study of amphibian systematics (Frost et al., Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 297 (2006) placed Dicamptodon back within Ambystomatidae, based on cladistic analysis. This has been accepted by the Center for Indian Herpetology.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amphibian</span> Class of ectothermic tetrapods

Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniotic, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class Amphibia. In its broad sense, it is paraphyletic group encompassing all tetrapods excluding the amniotes. All extant (living) amphibians belong to the monophyletic subclass Lissamphibia, with three living orders: Anura (frogs), Urodela (salamanders), and Gymnophiona (caecilians). Evolved to be mostly semiaquatic, amphibians have adapted to inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living in freshwater, wetland or terrestrial ecosystems. Their life cycle typically starts out as aquatic larvae with gills known as tadpoles, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salamander</span> Order of amphibians

Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten extant salamander families are grouped together under the order Urodela from the group Caudata. Salamander diversity is highest in eastern North America, especially in the Appalachian Mountains; most species are found in the Holarctic realm, with some species present in the Neotropical realm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axolotl</span> Species of salamander

The axolotl is a paedomorphic salamander closely related to the tiger salamander. It is unusual among amphibians in that it reaches adulthood without undergoing metamorphosis. Instead of taking to the land, adults remain aquatic and gilled. The species was originally found in several lakes underlying what is now Mexico City, such as Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco. These lakes were drained by Spanish settlers after the conquest of the Aztec Empire, leading to the destruction of much of the axolotl's natural habitat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mole salamander</span> Genus of amphibians

The mole salamanders are a group of advanced salamanders endemic to North America. The group has become famous due to the presence of the axolotl, widely used in research due to its paedomorphosis, and the tiger salamander which is the official amphibian of many US states, and often sold as a pet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiger salamander</span> Species of amphibian

The tiger salamander is a species of mole salamander and one of the largest terrestrial salamanders in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spotted salamander</span> Species of amphibian

The spotted salamander or yellow-spotted salamander is a mole salamander common in eastern United States and Canada. It is the state amphibian of Ohio and South Carolina. The species ranges from Nova Scotia, to Lake Superior, to southern Georgia and Texas. Its embryos have been found to have symbiotic algae living in and around them, the only known example of vertebrate cells hosting an endosymbiont microbe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific giant salamander</span> Genus of amphibians

The Pacific giant salamanders are members of the genus Dicamptodon. They are large salamanders endemic to the Pacific Northwest in North America. They are included in the family Ambystomatidae, or alternatively, in their own monogeneric family Dicamptodontidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ringed salamander</span> Species of amphibian

The ringed salamander is a species of mole salamander native to hardwood and mixed hardwood-pine forested areas in and around the Ozark Plateau and Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. This species of salamander has slander body, small head, and long tail. They are usually found to have various dorsal color from dark gray to dark brown. Various close relatives are found such as marbled salamander and spotted salamander. This species of salamander has cannibal behavior especially those in large body size.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long-toed salamander</span> Species of amphibian

The long-toed salamander is a mole salamander in the family Ambystomatidae. This species, typically 4.1–8.9 cm (1.6–3.5 in) long when mature, is characterized by its mottled black, brown, and yellow pigmentation, and its long outer fourth toe on the hind limbs. Analysis of fossil records, genetics, and biogeography suggest A. macrodactylum and A. laterale are descended from a common ancestor that gained access to the western Cordillera with the loss of the mid-continental seaway toward the Paleocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Patzcuaro salamander</span> Species of amphibian

The Lake Patzcuaro salamander, locally known as achoque, is a paedomorphic species of salamander found exclusively in Lake Pátzcuaro, a high-altitude lake in the Mexican state of Michoacán. First described in 1870 by Alfredo Dugès, the species is named in honor of the French herpetologist Auguste Duméril. However, the salamander has been used as a food source and an ingredient in traditional medicines by the Purépecha people since the Pre-Columbian era. Ambystoma dumerilii are neotenic, meaning they retain their larval characteristics throughout their entire life. This results in adults that have long, heavily filamented external gills, gill slits lined with tooth-like gill rakers, and caudal fins. When stressed, Ambystoma dumerilii can undergo an incomplete metamorphosis, though this is process significantly decreases their lifespan and is often fatal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marbled salamander</span> Species of amphibian

The marbled salamander is a species of mole salamander found in the eastern United States.

The Puerto Hondo stream salamander or Michoacan stream salamander is a mole salamander from the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt within the Mexican state of Michoacán.

<i>Ambystoma talpoideum</i> Species of salamander

Ambystoma talpoideum, the mole salamander, is a species of salamander found in much of the eastern and central United States, from Florida to Texas, north to Illinois, east to Kentucky, with isolated populations in Virginia and Indiana. Older sources often refer to this species as the tadpole salamander because some individuals remain in a neotenic state. This salamander lives among the leaf litter on the forest floor, migrating to ponds to breed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barred tiger salamander</span> Species of amphibian

The barred tiger salamander or western tiger salamander is a species of mole salamander that lives in lower western Canada, the western United States and northern Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarahumara salamander</span> Species of amphibian

The Tarahumara salamander is a freshwater species of mole salamander in the family Ambystomatidae, endemic to Mexico. Its natural habitats are temperate forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, rivers, freshwater marshes, pastureland, and ponds.

The Idaho giant salamander is a species of salamander. There are three closely related species to this taxon: D. ensatus,, D. copei and D. tenebrosus also known as the.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cope's giant salamander</span> Species of amphibian

Cope's giant salamander is a species of salamander in the family Dicamptodontidae, the Pacific giant salamanders. It is native to Washington and Oregon in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California giant salamander</span> Species of amphibian

The California giant salamander is a species of salamander in the family Ambystomatidae. Dicamptodon ensatus is endemic to California, in the western United States. The species once additionally included individuals now belonging to the species D. aterrimus and D. tenebrosus, under the common name Pacific giant salamander, which now refers to the genus and family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coastal giant salamander</span> Species of amphibian

The coastal giant salamander is a species of salamander in the family Dicamptodontidae. It is endemic to the Pacific Northwest of North America. There are three closely related species to this taxon: D. ensatus, D. copei, and D. aterrimus.

References

  1. "Ambystomatidae | amphibian family | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  2. "AmphibiaWeb - Ambystomatidae". amphibiaweb.org. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  3. Heying, Heather. "Ambystomatidae (Mole Salamanders)". Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved 2022-04-23.