The

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Proteidae is a group of aquatic salamanders found today in the

Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

and North America. The range of the genus ''

Necturus ''Necturus'' is a genus of aquatic salamanders native to the eastern United States and Canada. They are commonly known as waterdogs and mudpuppies. The common mudpuppy ''(N. maculosus)'' is probably the best-known species – as an amphibian ...

'' (commonly known as waterdogs or mudpuppies) runs from southern central Canada, through the midwestern United States, east to

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

and south to Georgia and

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. The range of the olm, the only extant member of the genus ''Proteus'', is limited to the Western Balkans. The fossil record of the family extends into the end of the Late Cretaceous, with '' Paranecturus'' being known from the

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the inte ...

of North America.

Taxonomy

Proteidae, is divided into two

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

genera, ''

'' with five

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

n species, and ''

Proteus In Greek mythology, Proteus (; Ancient Greek: Πρωτεύς, ''Prōteus'') is an early prophetic sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" ''(hálios gérôn)''. ...

'' with one extant

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an species, the olm. A number of extinct genera are known extending back to the end of the Late Cretaceous. Family Proteidae * Genus ''

'' ** Alabama waterdog (''N. alabamensis'') ** Western waterdog (''N. beyeri'') ** Neuse River waterdog (''N. lewisi'') ** Red River waterdog (''N. louisianensis''), sometimes considered a subspecies of ''N. maculosus'' ** Common mudpuppy (''N. maculosus'') ** Apalachicola waterdog (''N. moleri'') **

Escambia waterdog The Escambia waterdog (''Necturus mounti'') is a species of aquatic salamander in the family Proteidae. It is endemic to the southeastern United States. Taxonomy It was formerly thought to be a lineage of the Gulf Coast waterdog (''N. beyeri ...

(''N. mounti'') ** Dwarf waterdog (''N. punctatus'') * Genus ''

'' ** Olm (''P. anguinus'') **†'' P. bavaricus'' (became extinct during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

) * Genus †'' Euronecturus'' ** ''E. grogu'' (Miocene, Germany) * Genus †'' Orthophyia'' **'' O. longa'' (Miocene species) * Genus †'' Paranecturus'' **'' P. garbanii'' (Miocene species) * Genus †'' Mioproteus'' **†'' Mioproteus caucasicus'' (Middle Miocene) **†'' M. wezei'' (Pliocene to Middle Pleistocene)

Life history

In contrast to many salamanders, proteids never lose their

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

during maturation from larvae. This aspect of their physiology is known as

pedomorphosis Neoteny (), also called juvenilization,Montagu, A. (1989). Growing Young. Bergin & Garvey: CT. is the delaying or slowing of the physiological, or somatic, development of an organism, typically an animal. Neoteny is found in modern humans compared ...

. Despite having lungs, which appear to provide little use in respiration, mudpuppies spend their entire lives underwater. The adult gills resemble fish gills in many ways, but differ from fish gills in that they are external and lack any form of operculum, or covering. The bright red exposed gills are often found closed against the body in cool, highly oxygenated water. In warmer, poorly oxygenated water, the gills expand to increase water circulation and provide greater surface area for oxygen intake. Necturus salamanders such as "mudpuppies" also absorb oxygen through their skin and by occasionally breathing air at the surface. Other distinguishing features of proteid salamanders, as compared with other salamanders, are the absence of eyelids and a lack of maxillary bones in the upper jaw. They show a degree of parental care, tending to the eggs after attaching them to submerged stones and logs. Proteid salamanders range in size from to in length. Members of the genus ''

'', commonly called "mudpuppies" or "waterdogs", prefer shallow lakes and streams that have slow moving water and rocks to hide under, but have been found in up to 90 feet of water. Their name originates from the misconception that they make a dog-like barking sound. Diet consists of small fish and many

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...

, including

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, m ...

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class ...

s, and

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wor ...

s. Mudpuppies mature at four to six years and can live to be more than twenty years old. Progenesis is common for mudpuppies, enabling them to reach sexual maturity in their

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

l stage. Even though they eat fish eggs, negative effects on fish populations have not been documented. Fishermen have been known to catch mudpuppies, sometimes in large numbers, but most often when ice fishing. Necturus salamanders also commonly feed on mollusks, worms, insects and small fish. To distinguish between a larval mudpuppy and other larval

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

s, note that larval mudpuppies have distinct longitudinal banding and four toes on their hind legs, the combination of which is not found in most larval salamanders within the same range.Petranka, J.W. (1998). Salamanders of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press The main difference between a mudpuppy and a

siren Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies * Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology Places * Siren (town), Wisconsin * Siren, Wiscon ...

is that, whereas mudpuppies have both front and hind legs, a siren will only have one pair of very small, atrophied front legs.

References

External links

Tree of Life: Proteidae
{{Taxonbar, from=Q743692 Salamandroidea Amphibian families Taxa named by John Edward Gray Extant Maastrichtian first appearances

Taxonomy

Life history

See also

References

External links