Four-toed salamander
| Four-toed salamander | ||||||||||||
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Four-toed salamander ( Hemidactylium scutatum ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Hemidactylium | ||||||||||||
| Tschudi , 1838 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Hemidactylium scutatum | ||||||||||||
| ( Temminck & Schlegel , 1838) |
The four-toed salamander ( Hemidactylium scutatum ) is a salamander from the species-rich family of lung lots Salamander (Plethodontidae). The animals are 7.5 centimeters tall, females sometimes reach a length of nine centimeters. Their upper side is brownish, the underside white with black spots. All feet have four toes.
distribution
Four-toed salamanders live in the eastern United States, in the New England states from southern New Hampshire and Vermont to Virginia , Kentucky , Tennessee and northern Alabama , as well as Michigan and Wisconsin . There are isolated occurrences in the south and west of the range, in North and South Carolina , Georgia , Arkansas and Missouri as well as in Canada in southern Ontario and Nova Scotia . The amphibians live hidden in forests near peat moss swamps, their spawning waters.
Multiplication
The courtship takes place in late summer and can drag on into autumn. The fertilization occurs through spermatophores . In spring, the females move to their spawning area, where they lay their eggs in peat moss , grass roots and rarely in rotten wood. The eggs are always laid in close proximity to the water and later guarded by the female. The females lay their approximately 30 eggs one at a time. The eggs do not have a common shell, but they stick together very well. Sometimes several animals lay their eggs so close together that it is impossible to tell which animal laid which eggs. Such gathering clutches are only guarded by one animal, usually the first.
The larvae hatch after 38 to 60 days and then immediately move to the water. When hatching, the larvae are approx. 12 mm long and have already developed front legs, the rear legs are usually still present as buds. With a length of 18 to 25 mm, the larvae transform after 6 to 10 weeks. The ability to reproduce is probably reached after 2.5 years.
literature
- K. Deckert, Gisela Deckert , GE Freytag, G. Peters, G. Sterba: Urania animal kingdom, fish, amphibians, reptiles. Urania-Verlag, 1991, ISBN 3-332-00376-3 .
- Sherman C. Bishop: Handbook of Salamanders , Cornell University Press, 1994, ISBN 0-8014-8213-5
Web links
- Entry of the four-toed salamander in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Hemidactylium scutatum. In: AmphibiaWeb. Retrieved January 11, 2016 .