Tiger salamander
| Tiger salamander | ||||||||||||
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Tiger salamander ( Ambystoma tigrinum ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ambystoma tigrinum | ||||||||||||
| ( Green , 1825) |
The tiger salamander ( Ambystoma tigrinum ), more precisely: Eastern tiger salamander or Eastern tiger cross-toothed newt , is a member of the cross-toothed newt family (Ambystomatidae) within the tailed amphibian . With a body length of well over 30 centimeters, it is the largest land-living salamander .
features
As a landform, the tiger salamander reaches a body length of 20 to over 35 centimeters; neotene water forms can even be up to 38 centimeters long. He has a massive, plump body and a very broad head with small eyes. Its coloration varies greatly; the basic color is brown, olive green or black. Mostly he has a drawing consisting of spots and stripes with yellow and beige tones. The underside of the abdomen is yellowish or olive green in color. Within the species there are also adult and sexually mature animals that, like their larvae, live constantly in the water and have not lost their gills (compare: neoteny ). This phenomenon is even the norm in a close relative, the axolotl .
Occurrence
The tiger salamander can be found in large parts of North America and is still quite common in some areas. Its distribution area extends from southern Canada over a large part of the USA to Mexico . However , it is absent in the Appalachian Mountains , the Rocky Mountains and New England . The salamander uses meadows, shady forests and canyons as well as source areas of bodies of water as habitat.
Way of life, reproduction
The species feeds on earthworms , various insects , small mice, and other amphibians . Predators are various birds , snakes , cats and foxes . Most of the day the salamanders hide while they are active at night. Adult tiger salamanders live up to 25 years.
After heavy rainfall in March to June (north) or July to August (southwest), the females lay their eggs in small ponds, fish-free ponds and small watercourses. Before that, the pairing takes place, in which the two partners circle each other in the water and bump into each other. Finally, the female follows the male and ingests his spermatophore with the cloaca as soon as this semen package has been deposited on the bottom. The eggs are laid about three days after mating. The eggs (a few hundred to several thousand per female) are attached to underwater plants. The larvae hatch from them - in A. tigrinum after about 19 to 50 days, depending on the water temperature. The aquatic development of the larvae to metamorphosis takes at least another ten weeks.
Systematics
In the species tiger salamander there have been systematic changes in recent times, in that the previous subspecies A. tigrinum tigrinum is now treated as a separate species (Eastern) tiger salamander ( A. tigrinum ), while the other earlier subspecies under the species Western tiger salamander ( A. mavortium , with five subspecies).
literature
- JL Behler & FW King: National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians . Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York 1979.
- Hans-Joachim Herrmann: Amphibians in the aquarium. Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart, 1994. ISBN 3-8001-7287-9
- TF Tyning: Stokes Nature Guides: A Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles . Little, Brown & Company (Canada) Limited, Boston 1990.
Web links
- Further information at www.amphibiaweb.org (Engl.)
- Information and photos about the two tiger salamanders A. mavortium and A. tigrinum (not yet separated as species)
- Ambystoma tigrinum in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Hammerson et al , 2004. Retrieved on 12 May, 2006.