Salamandridae

Salamandridae is a family of salamanders consisting of true salamanders and newts. Currently, 74 species (with more expected) have been identified in the Northern Hemisphere - Europe, Asia, the northern tip of Africa, and North America. Salamandrids are distinguished from other salamanders by the lack of rib or costal grooves along the sides of their bodies and by their rough skin. Their skin is very granular because of the number of poison glands. They also lack nasolabial grooves. Most species of Salamandridae have moveable eyelids but lack lacrimal glands.

Salamandridae
True salamanders and newts
Temporal range: 89–0 Ma Cretaceous–recent[1]
Notophthalmus viridescens from North America
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Suborder: Salamandroidea
Family: Salamandridae
Goldfuss, 1820
Genera

  Calotriton
  Chioglossa
  Cynops
  Echinotriton
  Euproctus
  Ichthyosaura
  Laotriton
  Lissotriton
  Lyciasalamandra
  Mertensiella
  Neurergus
  Notophthalmus
  Ommatotriton
  Pachytriton
  Paramesotriton
  Pleurodeles
  Salamandra
  Salamandrina
  Taricha
  Triturus
  Tylototriton

Nearly all salamandrids produce a potent toxin in their skin, with some species being deadly to many other animal species. With a few exceptions, salamandrids have patterns of bright and contrasting colours, most of these are to warn potential predators of their toxicity. They have four well-developed limbs, with four toes on the fore limbs, and (in most cases) five toes on the hind limbs. They vary from 7 to 30 cm (3 to 12 in) in length.[2]

Many species within this family reproduce by method of internal fertilization. Additionally, there are many species-specific courtship rituals that males perform to attract mates. These courtship rituals often employ pheromones to induce mating behavior in females. Pheromones have been discovered to be the driving force behind female mating responses in Alpine newts. These pheromones can induce behavior even when male visual epidemic characters and courtship dances are absent. [3] All species within the genus Lyciasalamandra are viviparous, meaning they give birth to live young, without a tadpole stage. There are some species within the genus Salamandra are known to be viviparous too. Some newts are neotenic, being able to reproduce before they are fully metamorphosed.[2] The females of many species can store sperm for up to 6 months at a time.

Toxicity

The genus Taricha use the poision tetrodotoxin (TTX) that binds and blocks voltage-gated sodium channels (Nav) in nerves and muscles. This blockage causes the cessation of action potentials, leading to paralysis and death. Tetrodotoxin is the most toxic non-protein substance known. The Rough-Skinned Newt (Taricha granulosa) uses tetrodotoxin and is considered the most poisonous species of Newt. There are species and sub-species of Taricha that live in concurrent regions with a garter snake (Thamnophis) that has developed a resistance to the TTX poisoning. Species that inhabit regions with resistant Thamnophis snakes have evolved to increase their concentrations of TTX in an evolutionary arms race of predator versus prey.

Conservation Status (IUCN Redlist)
Conservation Status of Salamandridae
IUCN Classification Number of Species
Least Concern 32
Near Threatened 12
Vulnerable 16
Endangered 14
Critically Endangered 3
Lack of Data 1

Phylogeny

Cladograms based on the work of Pyron and Wiens (2011)[4] and modified using Mikko Haaramo [5]

 
Salamandrininae
 

†Archaeotriton basalticus

 
 

Salamandrina

 
 
 
Salamandrinae
Chioglossini
 

Mertensiella caucasica

 
 

Chioglossa lusitanica

 
 
Salamandrini
 

†Megalotriton filholi

 
 

Lyciasalamandra

 
 

Salamandra

 
 
 
Pleurodelinae
 

†Carpathotriton

 
Pleurodelini
 

†Brachycormus noachicus

 
 

†Chelotriton

 
 

†Palaeopleurodeles hauffi

 
 

Pleurodeles

 
 
 

Echinotriton

 
 

Tylototriton

 
 
 
Molgini
Tarichina
 

Notophthalmus

 
 

Taricha

 
 
Molgina
 

†Koalliella genzeli

 
 

†Oligosemia spinosa

 
 

Lissotriton

 
 
 
 
 

Neurergus

 
 

Ommatotriton

 
 
 
 

Calotriton

 
 

Triturus

 
 
 
 
 

Euproctus

 
 
 

Ichthyosaura alpestris

 
Cynopita
 

†Procynops miocenicus

 
 

Laotriton laoensis

 
 
 

Pachytriton

 
 
 

Cynops

 
 

Paramesotriton

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Taxonomy

The genus Salamandrina is the only member of the subfamily Salamandrininae, and the genera Chioglossa, Lyciasalamandra, Mertensiella, and Salamandra are grouped in the subfamily Salamandrinae, with sixteen other genera comprising the subfamily Pleurodelinae.[6] Those with a more thoroughly aquatic lifestyle are referred to as "newts", but this is not a formal taxonomic description.

Family SALAMANDRIDAE

  • Subfamily Pleurodelinae
    • Genus Calotriton - two species
      • Calotriton arnoldi Carranza & Amat, 2005
      • Calotriton asper (Dugès, 1852)
    • Genus Cynops (fire belly newts) - ten species
      • Cynops chenggongensis Kou and Xing, 1983
      • Cynops cyanurus Liu, Hu, and Yang, 1962
      • Cynops ensicauda (Hallowell, 1861)
      • Cynops fudingensis Wu, Wang, Jiang, and Hanken, 2010
      • Cynops glaucus Yuan, Jiang, Ding, Zhang, and Che, 2013
      • Cynops orientalis (David, 1873)
      • Cynops orphicus Risch, 1983
      • Cynops pyrrhogaster (Boie, 1826)
      • Cynops wolterstorffi (Boulenger, 1905)
      • Cynops yunnanensis Yang, 1983
    • Genus Echinotriton - three species
      • Echinotriton andersoni (Boulenger, 1892)
      • Echinotriton chinhaiensis (Chang, 1932)
      • Echinotriton maxiquadratus Hou, Wu, Yang, Zheng, Yuan, and Li, 2014
    • Genus Euproctus - two species
      • Euproctus montanus (Savi, 1838)
      • Euproctus platycephalus (Gravenhorst, 1829)
    • Genus Ichthyosaura - one species
      • Ichthyosaura alpestris (Laurenti, 1768)
    • Genus Laotriton - one species
      • Laotriton laoensis (Stuart & Papenfuss, 2002)
    • Genus Lissotriton - ten species
      • Lissotriton boscai (Lataste, 1879)
      • Lissotriton graecus (Wolterstorff, 1906)
      • Lissotriton helveticus (Razoumovsky, 1789)
      • Lissotriton italicus (Peracca, 1898)
      • Lissotriton kosswigi (Freytag, 1955)
      • Lissotriton lantzi (Wolterstorff, 1914)
      • Lissotriton maltzani (Boettger, 1879)
      • Lissotriton montandoni (Boulenger, 1880)
      • Lissotriton schmidtleri (Raxworthy, 1988)
      • Lissotriton vulgaris (Linnaeus, 1758)
    • Genus Neurergus - five species
    • Genus Notophthalmus - three species
    • Genus Ommatotriton - three species
      • Ommatotriton nesterovi (Litvinchuk, Zuiderwijk, Borkin, and Rosanov, 2005)
      • Ommatotriton ophryticus (Berthold, 1846)
      • Ommatotriton vittatus (Gray, 1835)
    • Genus Pachytriton - ten species
    • Genus Paramesotriton - fourteen species
    • Genus Pleurodeles - three species
      • Pleurodeles nebulosus (Guichenot, 1850)
      • Pleurodeles poireti (Gervais, 1836)
      • Pleurodeles waltl Michahelles, 1830
    • Genus Taricha - four species
      • Taricha granulosa (Skilton, 1849)
      • Taricha rivularis (Twitty, 1935)
      • Taricha sierrae (Twitty, 1942)
      • Taricha torosa (Rathke, 1833)
    • Genus Triturus (crested newts) - nine species
      • Triturus anatolicus Wielstra & Arntzen, 2016
      • Triturus carnifex (Laurenti, 1768)
      • Triturus cristatus (Laurenti, 1768)
      • Triturus dobrogicus (Kiritzescu, 1768)
      • Triturus ivanbureschi Arntzen & Wielstra, 2013
      • Triturus karelinii (Strauch, 1870)
      • Triturus macedonicus (Karaman, 1922)
      • Triturus marmoratus (Latreille, 1800)
      • Triturus pygmaeus (Wolterstorff, 1905)
    • Genus Tylototriton (crocodile newts) - twenty-five species
  • Subfamily Salamandrinae
  • Subfamily Salamandrininae

Fossil record

Salamandrids have a substantial fossil record spanning most of the Cenozoic. The oldest known fossils date from the Thanetian (Paleocene), but these, and most other known fossil salamandrids apparently belong to the crown group.[7] The sole known stem-salamandrid is Phosphotriton sigei, from the Quercy Phosphorites Formation, which apparently dates from the Middle to Late Eocene.[8]

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References
  1. "Fossilworks: Salamandridae".
  2. Lanza, B.; Vanni, S. & Nistri, A. (1998). Cogger, H.G. & Zweifel, R.G. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 73–74. ISBN 978-0-12-178560-4.
  3. Treer, Dag; Van Bocxlaer, Ines; Matthijs, Severine; Du Four, Dimitri; Janssenswillen, Sunita; Willaert, Bert; Bossuyt, Franky (2013-02-15). "Love Is Blind: Indiscriminate Female Mating Responses to Male Courtship Pheromones in Newts (Salamandridae)". PLOS ONE. 8 (2): e56538. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...856538T. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056538. ISSN 1932-6203. PMID 23457580.
  4. Pyron, R.A.; Weins, J.J. (2011). "A large-scale phylogeny of Amphibia including over 2800 species, and a revised classification of advanced frogs, salamanders, and caecilians" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 61 (2): 543–853. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.06.012. PMID 21723399.
  5. Haaramo, Mikko (2011). "Caudata – salamanders". Mikko's Phylogeny Archive.
  6. http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/references.php?id=27224
  7. Marjanovic, D.; Laurin, M. (2014). "An updated paleontological timetree of lissamphibians, with comments on the anatomy of Jurassic crown-group salamanders (Urodela)". Historical Biology. 26 (4): 535–550. doi:10.1080/08912963.2013.797972.
  8. Tissier, J.; Rage, J.-C.; Boistel, R.; Fernandez, V.; Pollet, N.; Garcia, G.; Laurin, M. (2016). "Synchrotron analysis of a 'mummified' salamander (Vertebrata: Caudata) from the Eocene of Quercy, France". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 177 (1): 147–164. doi:10.1111/zoj.12341.

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