Bolitoglossa
genus of amphibians
Bolitoglossa is a genus of lungless salamanders, commonly called mushroom-tongued salamanders, tropical climbing salamanders, and web-footed salamanders, in the family Plethodontidae. Their combined geographic ranges extend from northern Mexico through Central America to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, northeastern Brazil, and central Bolivia. Neotropical salamanders of the genus Bolitoglossa make up the largest genus in the order Caudata, consisting of approximately one-fifth of all known species of salamanders. Adult salamanders of the genus Bolitoglossa have a snout-to-vent length in the range of 45–200 mm (1.8–7.9 in) depending on the particular species. They are known for the ability to project the tongue to seize prey items. They are also known for webbed feet, having significantly more webbing than any other species outside their genus with the exception of the cave-dwelling Mexican bolitoglossine Chiropterotriton magnipes. Although webbed feet are a common characteristic of these salamanders, only about half of the species in this genus contain webbed feet.
Characteristics
Hand and foot morphology
Hand and foot morphology is strikingly diverse in an otherwise morphologically uniform group. While just under half of these species contain webbing between their fingers and toes, the remaining species experience little to no webbing and undergo elongation of their fingers and toes throughout development. Ultimately, the variation of foot morphology within this genus is primarily due to natural selection.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Bolitoglossa” is genus of amphibians. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Bolitoglossa, genus and amphibians, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bolitoglossa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.