Note on the Embryonic Development of the Dusky Salamander, Desmognathus fuscus (Caudata: Plethodontidae)
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Species with truncated developmental patterns may go undetected if they resemble the juveniles of their close relatives. Herein we present an example of this phenomenon with the description of a highly divergent, relict species of stream-dwelling plethodontid salamander from the Ouachita Mountains of North America. Both mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data show that this new species is most closely related to its syntopic relative, Eurycea multiplicata. Interestingly, E. multiplicata exhibits the ancestral biphasic (metamorphic) life cycle, whereas the new species maintains an aquatic larval form throughout life (paedomorphic) and superficially resembles larval E. multiplicata. The new species is the first known paedomorphic plethodontid from the Ouachita Mountains, and the most divergent paedomorphic salamander discovered in over seventy years. This species represents an independent instance of the evolution of paedomorphosis associated with a porous streambed, which may facilitate vertical seasonal movements. This new species currently has an extremely limited known distribution and is of immediate conservation concern.
Neoteny
Salamandridae
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The endangered Caucasian salamander, Mertensiella caucasica (Waga, 1876), is endemic to the western Lesser Caucasus. Here, we used N-mixed models to analyse repeated count data of Caucasian salamanders from the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. We estimated a mean detection probability of 0.29, a population size of 21 individuals, and a range of 9 to 36 individuals per 20 × 10 m plot. Our results provide preliminary data on the population status of the Caucasian salamander in northeastern Anatolia. These results would contribute to the effective management and conservation of the species.
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Sexual dimorphism, phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species, has been demonstrated in many invertebrates and vertebrates. In many of these studies, which were especially conducted on amphibians, female individuals were reported to be larger than males. However, this does not necessarily mean that this also applies to body shapes. Therefore, in this study, a total of 31 characters of body size and body shape were measured and analyzed in the Near Eastern fire salamander, in order to understand whether these characters differ between female and male individuals. The results suggest that there is a significant difference between the sexes in terms of both body size and some body shapes (e.g. arm and leg length, arm diameter, cloacal proportions) in this fire salamander. I conclude that both sexual size and shape dimorphism need to be taken into account to help understand an organism’s life-history traits, ecology, population dynamics and behavior.
Sexual dimorphism
Salamandra
Salamandridae
Evolvability
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Abstract Salamanders form a monophyletic group, constituting one of the three orders of modern amphibians (Lissamphibia), together with frogs and caecilians. Salamanders comprise the second most species-rich order of amphibians (1) and are typically classified in 10 families, with ca. 68% of the species belonging to the Family Plethodontidae. thebody plan has remained relatively stable since the Jurassic (2, 3) (Fig. 1), displaying several features that in combination distinguish it from the body plan of other amphibians: presence of a tail both in larval and adult phases, two pairs of limbs of equal size (when present) set perpendicular to the body, presence of teeth on both jaws, presence of ribs on most trunk vertebrae, and absence of several skull bones (4). Here we review the phylogenetic relationships and the divergence times of salamander families. thefamilies are grouped into Ave suborders: Cryptobranchoidea (Cryptobranchidae and Hynobiidae), Sirenoidea (Sirenidae), Salamandroidea (Salamandridae, Ambystomatidae, Dicamptodontidae), Proteoidea (Proteidae), and Plethodontoidea (Plethodontidae, Rhyacotritonidae, and Amphiumidae). Despite the increasing number of studies and data addressing the phylogeny of salamander families, their relationships are di1cult to resolve. Several relationships are consistently recovered with diBerent data sets, while the positions of others, in particular the sirenids and proteids, have remained contentious.
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Monophyly
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Abstract Appendage regeneration is one of the most compelling phenomena in regenerative biology and is extensively studied in axolotls and newts. However, the regenerative capacity in other families of salamanders remains poorly described. Here we characterize the limb regeneration process in Bolitoglossa ramosi , a direct‐developing terrestrial salamander of the plethodontid family. We (1) describe the major morphological features at different stages of limb regeneration, (2) show that appendage regeneration in a terrestrial salamander varies from other amphibians and (3) show that limb regeneration in this species is considerably slower than in axolotls and newts (95 days post‐amputation for complete regeneration) despite having a significantly smaller genome size than axolotls or newts.
Appendage
Salamandridae
Triturus
Regenerative process
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