Hydromantes

Speleomantes Dubois, 1984 was previously included within Hydromantes Gistel, 1848, and whether the two should be considered distinct remains one of the most contested areas in plethodontid systematics (and a new name, Hydromantoides Lanza & Vanni, 1981, has been used by some authors for the American members of Hydromantes).

Archive 2006-06-01 Darren Naish 2006

Two representatives of the salamander genus Hydromantes are endemic to this region.

Biological diversity in the California Floristic Province 2008

If Hydromantes and Speleomantes are the same genus, the distribution of this taxon is pretty odd: it occurs as relict populations in Italy, France and Sardinia, and then also in California.

Archive 2006-06-01 Darren Naish 2006

While many species capture insects with a projectile tongue, Hydromantes supramontis (one of the European plethodontids) actually fires its tongue skeleton out of its mouth, with the tongue protruding for up to 80% of its body length during this act.

Archive 2006-06-01 Darren Naish 2006

The North American Hydromantes species are sometimes called web-toed salamanders.

Archive 2006-06-01 Darren Naish 2006

When I was learning the herpetofauna of Europe as a teenager, Hydromantes (= Speleomantes) was always said to include just two species (H. italicus Dunn, 1923 and H. genei (Temminck & Schegel, 1838)).

Archive 2006-06-01 Darren Naish 2006

A novel antipredator mechanism in salamanders: rolling escape in Hydromantes platycephalus.

Archive 2006-06-01 Darren Naish 2006

A second example are salamanders 1. Italian cave salamander Hydromantes italicus, no morphological cave adaptations

Texas Tech - The Real Answer - The Panda's Thumb 2006

He and his colleague, Jason Richardson, focused on Hydromantes platycephalus

BBC News - Home 2011

Italian Cave Salamander (Hydromantes italicus), Italy.

Italian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests 2008