Big palm salamander
| Big palm salamander | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Large palm salamander ( Bolitoglossa dofleini ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Bolitoglossa dofleini | ||||||||||||
| ( Werner , 1903) |
The Great Palm Salamander ( Bolitoglossa dofleini , Syn. : Bolitoglossa schmidti ) is a climbing salamander from the order of salamanders . It belongs to the family of the lungless salamander and is distributed in Central America in the countries of Belize , Guatemala and Honduras .
features
The morphological differences between males and females of the great palm salamander are greater than in any other species of salamander. The head-torso length of the larger females can be up to 11 cm, the tail length of around 9 cm is added so that the females can reach a total length of 20 cm. Females have a stocky build and relatively short legs in relation to body length. If you put their legs against the body, there is still a considerable distance between the front legs pointing backwards and the hind legs pointing forward, while the legs of the males touch or overlap. Males have a head-trunk length of only around 7 cm and are therefore much smaller. They appear slimmer than the females and their head is more clearly separated from the neck. In addition, the adult males can be recognized by the kin gland that is clearly visible on the throat on the underside of the mouth . McCranie, Wake and Wilson note in their new description of the species from 1996 that the two sexes of the great palm salamander appear as two different species. It is all the more astonishing that no males of this species are known from Honduras. The description of the Great Palm Salamander from Honduras by Emmett Reid Dunn in 1924 is therefore based on only one female.
There are a large number of teeth on the jaw; in females examined in Honduras the average number is 93, in males from Guatemala the average is 55.
The color is dark brown to gray, with irregular yellowish white spots.
Way of life
Little is known about the way of life of these tree-dwelling climbing salamanders. Examination of the stomach contents of more than 100 specimens revealed that ants are the main source of food for the great palm salamander. There were also beetles , millipedes and earthworms in their stomachs. Small stones are also taken up by the salamanders and may play a role in breaking up the food in their stomachs.
Taxonomy
The species was first described in 1903 by Franz Werner as Spelerpes Dofleini, based on a specimen in the Bavarian State Collection in Munich . In 1924 the salamander was described again by Emmett Reid Dunn under the name Oedipus schmidti after a specimen collected by Karl Patterson Schmidt in Honduras. The synonymy was only clarified in 1996 by McCranie, Wake and Wilson, since Werner's type specimen had meanwhile been lost in Munich.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bolitoglossa dofleini at Amphibiaweb (accessed on July 2, 2013)
- ^ Franz Werner : About reptiles and Batrachians from Guatemala and China in the zoological state collection in Munich along with an appendix about rare forms from other regions . Treatises of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, ser. 2, 22, pp. 343-384, 1903, p. 352
- ^ DB Wake & JF Lynch: The distribution, ecology, and evolutionary history of plethodontid salamanders in Tropical America. Science Bulletin, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 25, pp. 1-65, 1976
- ↑ JR McCranie, DB Wake, LD Wilson: The taxonomic status of Bolitoglossa schmidti, with comments on the biology of the Mesoamerican salamander Bolitoglossa dofleini (Caudata: Plethodontidae). Caribbean Journal of Science, 32, pp. 395–398, 1996 ( PDF ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , English )
literature
- Franz Werner : About reptiles and Batrachians from Guatemala and China in the zoological state collection in Munich along with an appendix about rare forms from other areas . Treatises of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, ser. 2, 22, pp. 343–384, 1903 (first description, facsimile ).
- Emmett Reid Dunn : New salamanders of the genus Oedipus with a synoptical key . Field Museum of Natural History Publication 221, Zoological Series, 12, 7, pp. 95-100, 1924 ( facsimile ).
Web links
- Bolitoglossa dofleini in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2013. Posted by: Gustavo Cruz, Larry David Wilson, Randy McCranie, Manuel Acevedo, David Wake, Julian Lee, Ted Papenfuss, Franklin Castañeda, Sean Rovito, Jonathan Kolby, 2010. Retrieved on 2nd of July 2013.
- Bolitoglossa dofleini uses his fling tongue to catch a termite . High-speed recording from the Deban Laboratory, Physiology and Biomechanics of Movement, 2013 (accessed July 2, 2013)