Tailed amphibians: the brightest representatives of this group

Tailed amphibians, whose representativesvery few, have a great similarity in structure with frogs. But, unlike the frogs, there are about 340 species of tailed species. Tritons, salamanders and angular beetles belong to the tailed amphibians.

External structure of tailed amphibians

Just like in frogs, the skin of the tail is naked,there are four limbs, but there is a tail. Externally, the tailed amphibians are similar to lizards, although they have gills. The body lines are smooth, without sharp corners.

Limbs are used only for movement overland, in the tailed amphibians they do not use them.

Eyes, as well as frogs, are covered with transparent eyelids, which protect them from dirt and sun.

Habitat

Practically only in the northern hemisphere livetailed amphibians. Some species prefer to live in water and only very rarely appear on land. Others, on the contrary, permanently live on land and enter the water as needed. These species are almost helpless in the water. And those who love to live in water, on the contrary, will not be able to move normally along the shore. These species have very short legs. The article presents their interesting photos.

Tailed amphibians are predominantly nocturnal and spend the day in burrows, under rocks, in stumps or other shelters.

Uglozuby

These amphibian tail families live in Southeast Asia. But one of its representatives, a Siberian newt, lives beyond the Arctic Circle.

This is probably the only kind of cold-blooded,who climbed so far to the north. Siberian newt is a very ancient species, and most likely survived due to the fact that in the edge of permafrost, it has no competitors.

The Siberian newt is capable of experiencing low temperatures, and there have been cases when they found a Siberian frozen a hundred years ago in the ice, and it came to life after melting the ice.

Fiery salamander

Salamanders have been known since ancient times not as an amphibian,tailless, but as a mythical pesonage. It was believed that the salamander is not afraid of fire, lives in a stove or fireplace and protects the house from a fire. According to another version she was a spirit of fire.

But the brightest representative is the fierysalamander - was named so not for this reason. She just has a beautiful coat color: bright red and orange spots on a black background. And, like the fingerprints of a person, the shape of the spots does not repeat.

The fire salamander lives next to other kinds of so-called real salamanders. They live in North America, Europe and Asia.

The salamander has a long tail and paws without swimming membranes.

The gigantic salamander

It represents a family of secretions, a detachment of tailed amphibians.

This is the largest representative of the whole species of tailed amphibians. The length of a giant salamander can reach one and a half meters.

It mainly lives near the major rivers of China andJapan. She loves fast flow. Under large or overhanging stones, spends the daylight hours, and at night goes out for prey. It feeds on a giant salamander with small fishes, frogs, insects and crustaceans. Its mouth is provided with small teeth, which are used to hold the prey.

The body of this salamander is flattened from the sides, like the head. The tail is also compressed at the sides and feels in movement on the water.

The forelimbs of the gigantic salamander are thick and have four toes. There are five fingers on the hind limbs.

Color in this species is heterogeneous, the back is painted in a dark gray color, with barely noticeable spots, and the belly is light and also with patches of dark color.

At present, the giant salamander is rarely found in nature. She has very tasty meat, and she became a hunt.

Allegam secretly

Occurs in North America and has a length of just over half a meter. In appearance, it is close to the gigantic salamander. Skin color light or brown, from the sides to the edges of the hind legs stretch skin folds.

Dwells in rivers with a rapid current, in the shallowest places. He leads a nocturnal life, except for the mating season. The Allegam covert in the water hunts and very rarely rises to the surface.

Tritons

In ancient Greece, the newts called the male version of the mermaid. But now newts call tail amphibians, which live mainly in water.

The structure of the body of newts differs slightly from the addition of salamanders: the body is flattened from the sides, and the tail has a small rim that resembles a fish fin.

Legs of the newt are not too developed and badare adapted for movement overland. In the water, he feels much more confident and swims with the tail. During the movement, the amphibian casts his forelegs behind his back and uses them as a helm.

Tritons are nocturnalThey sit out in cover, and go out hunting at night. They feed on worms and insects. In winter, hiding in small groups in the foliage near the pond, where they plan to get out in the spring.

Tiger Ambystoma

These tailed amphibians do not grow large. Their length is only 15-20 centimeters. There are eight subspecies. The head of the tiger ambistomy is round and large, and the body is thick.

Color of the animal is dark brown or dark olive with yellow spots.

These tailed amphibians prefer to live nearcalm waters - ponds or lakes. Very rarely live by rivers. Like all other amphibians, they lead a nocturnal life, and at night they get food. Feeds tiger ambistomy insects, worms, mollusks and other small invertebrates.

This species can keep the house in the aquarium. Also in some states of the United States, tiger ambistomy is listed as a protected animal.

Pacific salamander

Dwells in the forests of Canada and the USA. Salamanders settle in burrows, and do not dig them themselves, but use shelters of small rodents. Or find an object on the ground and settle there.

The most interesting feature is protection from enemies. The Pacific salamander is able to cast its tail like a lizard. She can also throw poison out of her tail.

When attacked, it resembles a cat: pulls the tail of the pipe, arching his back and firing a poison. Most often this way, it protects its masonry, but in some cases can carry it from place to place.

Chernobryukha without pulmonary salamander

Dwells in the mountains of Apalachia, which are in the United States. He likes to settle near mountain cold streams.

Color salamander black, with barely discernible dark spots on the back.

Chernobryukha salamander is very brisk and aggressive. Unlike other salamanders, he likes to get out of the water and move around the outskirts of his pond. Can jump on rocks, slopes and branches.

In case of danger, it hides in the water and disguises itself among the underwater foliage.

The metabolism of the black-breasted salamander is slow, so it eats infrequently and little. This species refers to the pulmonary salamanders.

Triton ordinary

He lives in the temperate climatic zone of continent Eurasia. Triton is small in size, an adult can grow up to 12 centimeters. Of these, 6 is the length of the tail.

Color of the newt is ordinary, brown, and abdomenyellowish color. Colored spots are scattered on the skin. To attract females, males are painted much brighter. During the mating season, the male has a beautiful jagged crest of orange-blue color. It starts from the head and ends at the tip of the tail. The female in the mating season can also become brighter. In order to give offspring, the newt should be older than two years.

The newt feeds on insects, worms, small invertebrates. Mostly lives and hunts on land, hiding in the daytime and going out hunting at night, and falls into hibernation for the winter.

Crested newt

This newt is similar to the ordinary one, but larger in size. The length can reach twenty centimeters. The skin of the crested newt is covered with small warts.

The skin is colored brown, and the abdomen is orange. All over the body black spots are scattered.

The comb during the mating season acquires a blue color to attract the female. What is characteristic, the female during the marriage games is not "dressed up".

As well as practically all amphibians, the comb-like newt leads a nocturnal life. During the day he sits in a shelter, and at night procures food.

The Little Asian Triton

It represents a class of amphibians, a tail group, a family of real salamanders, a genus of newts.

The length of the Asian Triton can range from15 to 17 centimeters. The tail is wide and slightly larger than the body. During the mating season, the males have a smart comb. On the back, it resembles fins of fish.

Coloring of the Asiatic Triton is lead-olive and the whole surface of the body is strewn with spots. On the sides there are black and silvery stripes. The color of the belly is yellow.

This amphibian lives throughout the continent of Eurasia, loves to settle in the mountains and forests. Reservoirs choose with a rich aquatic vegetation.

Leaves the pond only in the summer and early autumn. He does not tolerate heat, he can die because he does not go hunting. For the winter hibernates.

A small Asian newt hunts for mollusks, invertebrates, spiders, worms and small newts.

The newt breeds in water. The larva of tailed amphibians comes out after about a month and begins to feed on the second day. Before the full appearance of the newt from the larva, four months pass.

Females live almost twice as long as males - 21 years old. A male is only 12 years old.</ strong </ p>