Common mudpuppy

Common mudpuppy
Temporal range: Paleocene - Recent[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Family: Proteidae
Genus: Necturus
Species:
N. maculosus
Binomial name
Necturus maculosus
(Rafinesque, 1818)
Range of N. maculosus
Synonyms

Sirena maculosa Rafinesque, 1818

The common mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) is a species of salamander in the family Proteidae.[3] It lives an entirely aquatic lifestyle in parts of North America in lakes, rivers, and ponds. It goes through paedomorphosis and retains its external gills.[4] Because skin and lung respiration alone is not sufficient for gas exchange, the common mudpuppy must rely on external gills as its primary means of gas exchange.[5] It is usually a rusty brown color[6] and can grow to an average total length (including tail) of 13 in (330 mm).[7] It is a nocturnal creature, and is active during the day only if the water in which it lives is murky.[3] Its diet consists of almost anything it can get into its mouth, including insects, mollusks, and earthworms (as well as other annelids).[6] Once a female common mudpuppy reaches sexual maturity at six years of age, she can lay an average of 60 eggs.[6] In the wild, the average lifespan of a common mudpuppy is 11 years.[8]

  1. ^ "Fossilworks: Necturus ".
  2. ^ IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2015). "Necturus maculosus ". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T59433A64731610. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T59433A64731610.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Mattison, Chris 2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Halliday, Tim R. 1986 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Chiasson, Richard B 1969 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Petranka was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Gans, C., and R.A. Nussbaum (1981). "The Mudpuppy". pp. 108–141. In: Wessells, Norman K., and Elizabeth M. Center (editors) (1981). Vertebrates, a Laboratory Text, Second Edition. Los Altos, California: W. Kaufmann.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference r1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).