The Red River mudpuppy (''Necturus maculosus louisianensis''), also called Louisiana waterdog or Red River waterdog, is a
subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
of aquatic
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 ...
in the family
Proteidae
The family (biology), family Proteidae is a group of aquatic Salamander, salamanders found today in the Balkan Peninsula and North America. The range of the genus ''Necturus'' (commonly known as waterdogs or mudpuppies) runs from southern cent ...
.
Taxonomy
Most taxonomic authorities currently
hen?consider this salamander to be a subspecies of the
common mudpuppy
The common mudpuppy (''Necturus maculosus'') is a species of salamander in the family Proteidae. It lives an entirely aquatic lifestyle in parts of North America in lakes, rivers, and ponds. It goes through paedomorphosis and retains its externa ...
(''N. maculosus''): ''N. maculosus louisianensis'', or the Red River mudpuppy. The Red River waterdog was proposed as a separate species from the common mudpuppy by Collins in 1991, but supporting data was lacking. Petranka (1998) and Crother (2017) both treated this fully aquatic salamander as a subspecies. Phylogenetic and morphological analyses conducted by Chabbaria ''et al.'' 2018, suggested two distinct lineages of ''N. maculosus'' in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River, and similar results were obtained from analyses of
mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...
(mtDNA) samples from the upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and New England by Greenwald ''et al.'' 2020.
Geographic range
It is found in southeastern Kansas, southern Missouri, northeastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, and northcentral Louisiana. It lives only in the
Red River and adjacent drainage systems.
[Conant, Roger (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, 2nd edition. Houghton Mifflin. Boston.]
Description
Differs in appearance from the
common mudpuppy
The common mudpuppy (''Necturus maculosus'') is a species of salamander in the family Proteidae. It lives an entirely aquatic lifestyle in parts of North America in lakes, rivers, and ponds. It goes through paedomorphosis and retains its externa ...
, which is gray to brown, with round blue-black spots. The Red River mudpuppy is light yellowish brown with a white stripe on either side of the middorsal area.
Diet and behavior
It eats mainly small underwater animals. Its feathery gills mean that it can breathe only underwater not on land. It and many other mudpuppies can still go on land, but not for a very long time. They go on land only if the water is too dirty so they can find cleaner water in another part of the river.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7304879
Proteidae
Endemic amphibians of the United States
Amphibians described in 1938