Notophthalmus
Notophthalmus is a genus of newts. There are three species. The name derives from Greek νῶτον (nōton), meaning "back", and Greek ὀφθαλμός (ophthalmos), meaning "eye".
| Notophthalmus | |
|---|---|
| Notophthalmus viridescens | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Urodela |
| Family: | Salamandridae |
| Subfamily: | Pleurodelinae |
| Genus: | Notophthalmus Rafinesque, 1820 |
| Type species | |
| Notophthalmus viridescens | |
Description edit
Notophthalmus species are East American newts similar in shape to the European newts (cf. Triturus). As a distinct characteristic of their own, both sexes have three to four large pores that lie in a row on the temple. The skin is smooth and soft in the water form and the tail is strongly flattened laterally. The back bar, on the other hand, is only narrow. Especially during the mating season, there is a clear sexual dimorphism: the males have very strong rut callosities consisting of 10 to 12 horn platelets on the inside of the hind legs, a strongly thickened tail as well as horny toe tips and a spherically arched cloaca. The latter is truncated conical in the females.[1]
Species edit
Species recognized as of October 2019:[2]
| image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notophthalmus meridionalis (Cope, 1880) | black-spotted newt | northeastern Mexico and southern Texas | |
| Notophthalmus perstriatus (Bishop, 1941) | striped newt | southern Georgia southward into central Florida | |
| Notophthalmus viridescens (Rafinesque, 1820) | eastern newt | eastern North America |
References edit
- ^ Beschreibung nach Günther Peters: Familie Salandridae – Echte Salamander und Molche in Urania Tierreich. Fische, Lurche, Kriechtiere. Urania Verlag, Berlin 2000; Seite 351.
- ^ Frost, Darrel R. (2019). "Notophthalmus". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- Animal Diversity Web: Notophthalmus viridescens