Real salamanders

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Real salamanders
Alpine salamander (Salamandra atra)

Alpine salamander ( Salamandra atra )

Systematics
Superclass : Jaw mouths (Gnathostomata)
Row : Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda)
without rank: Amphibians (Lissamphibia)
Order : Tail amphibian (caudata)
Superfamily : Salamander relatives (Salamandroidea)
Family : Real salamanders
Scientific name
Salamandridae
Goldfuss , 1820

The Real Salamander (Salamandridae), also salamandridae and newts called, are a family of salamanders (Caudata or Urodela). For the most part, their representatives live half to fully aquatic ; some, like the genus Salamandra , prefer a terrestrial way of life. The distribution of the almost 90 species of this family extends over the climatically predominantly temperate zones of the northern hemisphere from North America through Europe to Far Eastern Asia.

features

The animals have ophistocoele (rear hollowed out) vertebral bodies. The palatal teeth stand in two longitudinal rows that diverge backwards. Regarding bone structure, it should also be noted that there is no sagittal ridge on the parietal. Real salamanders and newts carry out internal fertilization - the females usually ingest one or more packets of seeds previously deposited by the male with their cloaca . As adults , they no longer have gill holes or gills , but have changed to lung and skin respiration with metamorphosis (exception: neotene specimens). Some species are barely longer than a small human finger , while the Spanish ribbed newt can reach a body length of over 30 centimeters.

Internal system

The Salamandridae family includes three subfamilies, 23 genera and 114 species:

Notes: The genera Ichthyosaura , Lissotriton and Ommatotriton are splits from the taxon Triturus , under which the European newts were grouped until a few years ago. Calotriton is an exclusion from the genus Euproctus and is now regarded as a sister taxon of the genus Triturus (see str.). The monotypical genus Laotriton is not differentiated in some overviews, but the species in question is assigned to the newts (here: Paramesotriton laoensis ). A genus Pingia postulated by some authors (with the only species P. granulosa ) is also understood as a synonym of either Cynops orientalis or Pachytriton brevipes . Mertensiella is now only understood as a monotypical genus, consisting of the Caucasian salamander (compare: Lycian salamander ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Darrel R. Frost: Salamandridae , Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference, Version 6.0, American Museum of Natural History, New York 2014, accessed December 15, 2014
  2. ↑ Mian Hou, Yunke Wu, Kelin Yang, Sheng Zheng, Zhiyong Yuan, Pipeng Lia: A missing geographic link in the distribution of the genus Echinotriton (Caudata: Salamandridae) with description of a new species from southern China. Zootaxa, 3895, 1, 89-102, December 2014 doi : 10.11646 / zootaxa.3895.1.5

literature

  • Günther E. Freytag, Bernhard Grzimek, Oskar Kuhn & Erich Thenius (eds.): Lurche . In: Grzimeks Tierleben, Vol. 5: Fish 2, Lurche. Licensed edition in dtv, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-423-03204-9
  • Kurt Rimpp: Salamanders and Newts . Ulmer, Stuttgart 1978. ISBN 3-8001-7045-0

Web links

Commons : Real Salamander  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
  • Darrel R. Frost: Salamandridae , Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference, Version 6.0, American Museum of Natural History, New York 2014, accessed December 15, 2014