![]() ![]() The effort to sort all of these dusky salamanders out has conservation implications. “But when we look at them very closely, we find very subtle differences.” “They all have very similar blackbelly morphology,” Pyron said, pointing out small differences in the shape of body parts and color patterning. Another one was also described by scientists in the 1990s and given a name in 2002- D. The largest one that Pyron has ever seen sits on the tray in front of us-it was originally described in the 1940s but was then later treated as if it wasn’t a separate species- D. “It’s basically like if you mixed a gorilla, an orangutan and a chimpanzee, and got whatever hybrid would result from that,” he said.īut there were also two others that had been initially categorized as blackbelly salamanders. In fact, some of the species that Pyron believes may be undescribed to science could in fact be the result of ancient hybrids that successfully bred with other hybrids to make a very mixed offspring that acted like a new species. And then to further confuse things, some of the species can successfully hybridize. To confuse matters, most dusky salamanders have re-evolved the characteristic of taking on a different larval form more like tadpoles. Most lungless salamanders hatch from their eggs as miniature versions of their future adult forms. Somewhere along the line, lungless salamanders evolved, losing the tadpole-like larval stage that most amphibians still have today. ![]() They were separated when the continents divided. It’s likely that the species around today descended from a Plethodontid that occupied a certain climate niche across the globe. Dusky salamanders are only found in the eastern forests of North America. mavrokoilius seen above belong to, are found across the Americas, in some parts of Europe, and even in the Korean Peninsula. Plethodontid or lungless salamanders, the group that dusky salamanders like the D. Credit: Max Seldes, University of Georgia ![]()
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