Biology:Slender salamander
| Slender salamanders | |
|---|---|
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| Batrachoseps attenuatus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Urodela |
| Family: | Plethodontidae |
| Subfamily: | Hemidactyliinae |
| Genus: | Batrachoseps Bonaparte, 1839 |
| Species | |
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See table | |
Batrachoseps is a genus of lungless salamanders (plethodontids) often called slender salamanders. They can be distinguished from other lungless salamanders by the four toes they have on each foot.
Their genus name Batracho-seps means "frog-lizard", in reference to their projectile tongues.
Diet and physiology
The lungless salamanders, in addition to having no lungs, have long slender snake-shaped bodies with very small limbs that appear almost vestigial in several species.[1] Their main diet consists of small insects, such as springtails, small bark beetles, crickets, young snails, mites, and spiders. Like all salamanders in this family, they have long frog-like projectile tongues which they use to grab their prey in a flash.
Unlike all other amphibians (and birds, and lizards, and nearly all fish) mature red blood cells in species in the genus Batrachoseps have no nucleus, which is a trait that is known to occur only in mammals and certain species of antarctic fish.[2]
Distribution
Batrachoseps range from Oregon and California (US) to northern Baja California (Mexico). Slender salamanders in California tolerate a diverse variety of environments, as long as their basic needs are met.[3]
Species
Twenty-one species are recognized in this genus, but their taxonomy is uncertain. Some species may in fact be subspecies of others, and some subspecies may be distinct species of their own. Genetic analysis is in process.
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Year described | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenhorn Mountains slender salamander | Batrachoseps altasierrae | Jockusch et al., 2012 | Kern and Tulare counties, California, US | |
| 120px | California slender salamander | Batrachoseps attenuatus | Eschscholtz, 1833 | Sierra Nevada, California, and northern Central Valley of California, and southwestern Oregon |
| Fairview slender salamander | Batrachoseps bramei | Jockusch, et al., 2012 | California | |
| Inyo Mountains slender salamander | Batrachoseps campi | Marlow, Brode & Wake, 1979 | Inyo County of eastern California | |
| Hell Hollow slender salamander | Batrachoseps diabolicus | Jockusch, Wake & Yanev, 1998 | California, in Mariposa County | |
| 120px | San Gabriel slender salamander | Batrachoseps gabrieli | Wake, 1996 | San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, California |
| 120px | Gabilan Mountains slender salamander | Batrachoseps gavilanensis | Jockusch, Yanev & Wake, 2001 | Central Coast region from Santa Cruz to northern Kern County, California |
| 120px | Gregarious slender salamander | Batrachoseps gregarius | Jockusch, Wake & Yanev, 1998 | western Sierra Nevada and the eastern Central Valley in California |
| San Simeon slender salamander | Batrachoseps incognitus | Jockusch, Yanev & Wake, 2001 | south-western Monterey and northern San Luis Obispo Counties, California | |
| 120px | Sequoia slender salamander | Batrachoseps kawia | Jockusch, Wake & Yanev, 1998 | Tulare County, California |
| 120px | San Lucia Mountains slender salamander | Batrachoseps luciae | Jockusch, Yanev & Wake, 2001 | Monterey County, California |
| 120px | Garden slender salamander | Batrachoseps major | Camp, 1915 | northern Baja California in Mexico and Southern California, United States |
| Lesser slender salamander | Batrachoseps minor | Jockusch, Yanev & Wake, 1998 | San Luis Obispo County, California | |
| 120px | Black-bellied slender salamander | Batrachoseps nigriventris | Cope, 1869 | California |
| 120px | Pacific slender salamander | Batrachoseps pacificus | (Cope, 1865) | Channel Islands of California |
| King's River slender salamander | Batrachoseps regius | Jockusch, Wake & Yanev, 1998 | Fresno County, California | |
| Relictual slender salamander | Batrachoseps relictus | Brame & Murray, 1968 | Kern County, California. | |
| Kern Plateau slender salamander | Batrachoseps robustus | Wake, Yanev & Hansen, 2002 | Tulare and Inyo, and Kern Counties, California | |
| Kern Canyon slender salamander | Batrachoseps simatus | Brame & Murray, 1968 | Kern County, California | |
| 120px | Tehachapi slender salamander | Batrachoseps stebbinsi | Brame & Murray, 1968 | Kern County, California |
| Arguello slender salamander | Batrachoseps wakei | Sweet & Jockusch, 2021 | Santa Barbara County, California | |
| 120px | Oregon slender salamander | Batrachoseps wrighti | (Bishop, 1937) | Oregon |
Intrinsic Phylogeny
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Intrinsic phylogeny tree of genus Batrachoseps.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ Burton, M.; Burton, R. (2002). International Wildlife Encyclopedia. Marshall Cavendish. p. 1503. ISBN 978-0-7614-7277-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=wWQw11SLvVwC&pg=PA1503. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
- ↑ Cohen, W. D. (1982). "The cytomorphic system of anucleate non-mammalian erythrocytes". Protoplasma 113: 23–32. doi:10.1007/BF01283036.
- ↑ "5.1 California Slender Salamander". http://www.fritzhaeg.com/garden/initiatives/animalestates/animals/slender-salamander.html.
- ↑ Alexander Pyron, R.; Wiens, John J. (2011-11-01). "A large-scale phylogeny of Amphibia including over 2800 species, and a revised classification of extant frogs, salamanders, and caecilians". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 61 (2): 543–583. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.06.012. ISSN 1055-7903. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S105579031100279X.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Slender salamander. |
- Frost, Darrel R (10 October 2007). "Batrachoseps". New York, NY: American Museum of Natural History. http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/names.php?taxon=&family=&subfamily=&genus=Batrachoseps&commname=&authority=&year=&geo=0&dist=&comment=. Electronic Database accessible at http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.php American Museum of Natural History.
- "Batrachoseps". Berkeley, California. 2008. http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi-bin/amphib_query?query_src=aw_lists_genera_&table=amphib&where-genus=Batrachoseps&where-species=. "Information on amphibian biology and conservation" AmphibiaWeb is available at http://amphibiaweb.org/.
- "Batrachoseps". http://tolweb.org/supergenus_Batrachoseps/65947.
- "A slender salamanders page". http://www.montereybay.com/creagrus/CABatrachoseps.html.
Wikidata ☰ Q786876 entry
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