Hydromantes

Web-toed Salamanders
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Caudata
Family:	Plethodontidae
Genus:	Hydromantes Gistel, 1848
Species
3, See table.

Hydromantes commonly referred to as Web-toed Salamanders is a genus of the Plethodontidae family of salamanders, which is characterized by their absence of lungs; they instead achieve respiration through their skin and the tissues lining their mouth. They are endemic to Northern California, USA.^[1] Similar species endemic to southern France and Italy are now separated to a distinct genus, speleomantes. Salamanders of this genus are distinguished in having extremely long tongues that they can project 80% of body length ^[2].

Species

The following three species (found in California) are placed in this genus:

Binomial Name and Author	Common Name
Hydromantes brunus Gorman, 1954	Limestone Salamander
Hydromantes platycephalus (Camp, 1916)	Mount Lyell Salamander
Hydromantes shastae Gorman & Camp, 1953	Shasta Salamander

References

^ Hydromantes brunus : Limestone Salamander
^ Deban, S. M., O’Reilly, J. C., Dicke, U. and van Leeuwen, J. L. (2007). Extremely high-power tongue projection in plethodontid salamanders. Journal of Experimental Biology. 210: 655-667.

External links

Frost, Darrel R. 2007. Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 5.2 (15 July 2008). Hydromantes. Electronic Database accessible at http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.php. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. (Accessed: August 1, 2008).
AmphibiaWeb: Information on amphibian biology and conservation. [web application]. 2008. Berkeley, California: Hydromantes. AmphibiaWeb, available at http://amphibiaweb.org/. (Accessed: August 1, 2008).