Torrent salamander

The torrent salamanders or Cascade salamanders are a family of salamanders (Rhyacotritonidae) with only one genus, Rhyacotriton. The torrent salamanders have highly reduced lungs and are endemic to the United States in the Pacific Northwest (including northwestern California).

Torrent salamanders
Rhyacotriton variegatus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Urodela
Suborder:	Salamandroidea
Family:	Rhyacotritonidae Tihen, 1958
Genus:	Rhyacotriton Dunn, 1920
Species
Rhyacotriton cascadae (blue)  Rhyacotriton kezeri (green)  Rhyacotriton olympicus (red)  Rhyacotriton variegatus (yellow)

Description

Maximum adult snout-vent length is 6 cm. They have complete metamorphosis, but a few neotenic traits have been found, like the presence of conical teeth and reduced or absent nasal bones. Nasal bones have never been seen in R. olympicus. but are present in some specimens of the other species, and occurs most often in R. variegatus. The lungs are minute; in R. olympicus they are 5 to 7 mm in length, but highly vascular and filled with air. They are very sensitive to desiccation and warm temperatures. More than 83 °F (28 °C) can be fatal, and they can only tolerate a water loss of 19.4 percent of initial body weight at most (compared to 29.0 to 32.9 percent for other species). Because of this, they are rarely found more than a meter away from free-running water. On rare occasions adults can be found under objects a few meters from water after heavy rain. Males have a unique vent gland.

Reproduction

Courtship is terrestrial. The male will deposit a spermatophore on the ground, which is then picked up by the female. The eggs have a pale yellow-white ova, and are deposited separately and haphazardly in slow-flowing water. Sometimes communal oviposition occurs. They are attached neither to each other or to the substrate, which is unique in salamanders. Parental care is absent.

Species

The genus Rhyacotriton includes four species:

• Cascade torrent salamander (R. cascadae)
• Columbia torrent salamander (R. kezeri)
• Olympic torrent salamander (R. olympicus)
• Southern torrent salamander (R. variegatus)

Taxonomy

Originally the genus Rhyacotriton was placed in the family Ambystomatidae, later in the family Dicamptodontidae, and finally in 1992 it was placed into a family of its own. At the same time the only species Rhyacotriton olympicus was split into four species due to genetic analysis.