| Sardinian brook salamander | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Urodela |
| Family: | Salamandridae |
| Genus: | Euproctus |
| Species: | E. platycephalus |
| Binomial name | |
| Euproctus platycephalus (Gravenhorst, 1829) | |
| Synonyms | |
Molge platycephalaGravenhorst, 1829 | |
The Sardinian brook salamander or Sardinian mountain newt (Euproctus platycephalus) is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae found only in Sardinia, Italy. [2]
The Sardinian brook salamander can grow to about 15 cm (6 in) in length, but adults are usually rather smaller than this, with females being a bit larger than males. It is very similar to the Corsican brook salamander, but the head is flatter, the throat is more spotted, and the paratoid glands are smaller. The lower jaw is shorter than the upper jaw. The skin is smooth apart from a few irregularly placed tubercles. The colour is olive, grey, or reddish-brown, often with red, brown, or black spots and longitudinal streaks, and often a thin yellow or brown stripe occurs along the spine. The underside is paler, often having a red or yellow central region and black spots. The male has a spur on each hind limb. [3] [4] The only species with which it is likely to be confused are cave salamanders in the family Plethodontidae. [3]
The Sardinian brook salamander is endemic to the mountainous areas on the east side of the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea. It is found at altitudes between 50 and 1,800 metres (160 and 5,910 ft), with most sightings being in the middle of this range. It is found in slow-moving streams and rivers, small lakes, and ponds, where it hides under stones. When on land, it is usually found in undergrowth or under stones, and usually stays close to water. [3]
The Sardinian brook salamander is largely aquatic, though it does hibernate and sometimes aestivate on land near the water's edge. Mating takes place in the water, the male having first carried the passive female in his jaws to a suitable location. He clasps her body with his jaws and bends his body around, wrapping his tail around hers. He transfers spermatophores to her cloaca from his cloaca, sometimes with the aid of his spurs. The female lays up to 220 eggs singly over a period of weeks in crevices and under stones and possibly buried in sand. [4] She forms her mobile cloaca into a tube and turns on her back to deposit them in suitable locations. [3] The larvae take six to 15 months before metamorphosis depending on the water temperature. In 1999, sexually mature adults were reported to have been found with the vestiges of gills, suggesting the species may exhibit paedomorphosis. [4]
The Sardinian brook salamander is classified by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as vulnerable, because the area it occupies is less than 500 km2 (190 sq mi) in total and fragmented into a number of separate populations. It is threatened by loss of habitat, pollution of watercourses, dry conditions caused by the excessive extraction of water, and disturbance due to tourism. Its numbers appear to be dwindling. Most of the specimens found were male and the species seems to be no longer present in some locations where it was previously found. [1]
Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniotic, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all tetrapods excluding the amniotes. All extant (living) amphibians belong to the monophyletic subclass Lissamphibia, with three living orders: Anura, 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.
The palmate newt is a species of newt found in Western Europe, from Great Britain to the northern Iberian Peninsula. It is 5–9.5 cm (2.0–3.7 in) long and olive or brown with some dark spots. The underside is yellow to orange, and the throat, unlike in the similar smooth newt, always unspotted. A dark stripe runs along the head and through the eyes. Breeding males develop a distinct filament on the end of their tail, strongly webbed hind feet, and a low, smooth crest on their back.
Ambystomatidae is a family of salamanders belonging to the Suborder Salamandroidea in the class Amphibia. It contains two genera, Ambystoma and Dicamptodon. Ambystoma contains 32 species and are distributed widely across North America, while Dicamptodon contains four species restricted to the Pacific Northwest. 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.
The Jefferson salamander is a mole salamander native to the northeastern United States, southern and central Ontario, and southwestern Quebec. It was named after Jefferson College in Pennsylvania.
The common mudpuppy is a species of salamander in the family Proteidae. It lives an entirely aquatic lifestyle in parts of North America in lakes, rivers, and ponds. It goes through paedomorphosis and retains its external gills. Because skin and lung respiration alone is not sufficient for gas exchange, the common mudpuppy must rely on external gills as its primary means of gas exchange. It is usually a rusty brown color and can grow to an average total length of 13 in (330 mm). It is a nocturnal creature, and is active during the day only if the water in which it lives is murky. Its diet consists of almost anything it can get into its mouth, including insects, mollusks, and earthworms. Once a female common mudpuppy reaches sexual maturity at six years of age, she can lay an average of 60 eggs. In the wild, the average lifespan of a common mudpuppy is 11 years.
The arboreal salamander is a species of climbing salamander. An insectivore, it is native to California and Baja California, where it is primarily associated with oak and sycamore woodlands, and thick chaparral.
The Neuse River waterdog is a medium-sized waterdog of the family Proteidae found in streams and rivers in two watersheds of North Carolina.
The Pyrenean brook salamander or Pyrenean newt, , is a largely aquatic species of salamander in the family Salamandridae. It is found in the Pyrenees of Andorra, France, and Spain. The IUCN lists it as least concern.
The Corsican brook salamander or Corsican mountain newt is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae. It is endemic to Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean Sea.
Lyciasalamandra helverseni, the Karpathos salamander, is a viviparous species of salamander in the family Salamandridae found only in Greece. Its natural habitats are Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation and rocky areas.
The Corsican fire salamander is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae found only on the island of Corsica as an endemic species. In former times, this species was known as a subspecies of the widespread but continental-distributed fire salamander, which may appear quite similar.
The Oita salamander is a species of salamander in the family Hynobiidae endemic to Japan. Named after Ōita Prefecture, its natural habitats are temperate forests, rivers, intermittent rivers, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, and irrigated land in western Japan. It is threatened by habitat loss, due to the increasing construction of homes within its habitat. The Oita salamander is considered to be vulnerable by the (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species with a declining population.
The northern banana salamander, also known as common dwarf salamander or rufescent salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is found in the Atlantic slopes of Meso-America from San Luis Potosi, Veracruz, and northern Chiapas in Mexico continuing on to the southern part of Guatemala, Belize, and northern Honduras. However, its range south of Mexico is uncertain because the records may refer to other species.
The imitator salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is endemic to the Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States.
The ocoee salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. This salamander has a variety of colors and patterns, and got its name from Tennessee state wildflower. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, rivers, intermittent rivers, freshwater springs and wet rocks in mountainous areas of the Southeastern United States. It was first described by Nicholls in 1949. They are territorial and feed on small invertebrates. It is widely distributed in the southeastern United States and is listed as "Least Concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The spring salamander is a species of salamander in the family Plethodontidae. It is found in Canada and the United States. The genus, Gyrinophilus, means "tadpole lover" and refers to the long period of time it spends as a gilled larva before maturing. The specific epithet, porphyriticus, is Latin from Greek, meaning the color of porphyry, a purple stone, and this salamander has also been called the purple salamander.
The Olympic torrent salamander is a species of salamander in the family Rhyacotritonidae. This is a small salamander that lives in clear, cold, mountain streams. It is medium to dark brown and may have a few small light spots on the sides and small dark spots on the tail; it is bright yellow on the belly, usually with some dark spots. Torrent salamanders typically have short snouts and relatively large eyes. As in other torrent salamanders, adult males have square-edged lobes behind the cloaca. These salamanders live at the edges of clear, cold, mountain streams; they can be abundant under gravel at stream edges and in the spray zones of waterfalls. During rainy seasons, they are occasionally found under objects on land away from streams.
A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aquatic salamanders are considered newts, however. More than 100 known species of newts are found in North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia. Newts metamorphose through three distinct developmental life stages: aquatic larva, terrestrial juvenile (eft), and adult. Adult newts have lizard-like bodies and return to the water every year to breed, otherwise living in humid, cover-rich land habitats.
The Montseny brook newt is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae. It is endemic to the Montseny Massif in northeast Spain. Before it was formally described in 2005, it was mixed with the larger and more widely distributed Pyrenean brook salamander.
Media related to Euproctus platycephalus at Wikimedia Commons