Pacific giant salamander

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pacific giant salamanders
Temporal range: Paleocene to recent, 58.7–0 Ma
Dicamptodon tenebrosus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Ambystomatidae
Genus: Dicamptodon
Strauch, 1870
Dicamptodon tenebrosus

A Pacific giant salamander (Dicamptodon) is a member of the family and genus of large salamanders.

The salamanders may grow up to 30 cm (12 in) long, and are found in the Pacific Northwest of North America. Apart from their large size, they are like the mole salamander family (Ambystomatidae).[1]

Most salamanders are silent but the Pacific giant salamander can make noise. The adults can live on land or in water.

The genus has four species: Cope's giant salamander (D. copei), the Idaho giant salamander (D. aterrimus), the coastal giant salamander (D. tenebrosus), and the California giant salamander (D. ensatus).[2]

References[change | change source]

  1. Frost, Darrel R. et al 2006. The amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the AMNH #297 [1] Archived 2016-08-11 at the Wayback Machine
  2. David A. Goode (1989). "Hybridization and cryptic species in Dicamptodon (Caudata: dicamptodontidae)". Evolution. 43 (4): 728–744. doi:10.2307/2409302. JSTOR 2409302. PMID 28564189.

Other websites[change | change source]