Mexican Ambystomatids - Warning: dead specimen photos

I'm posting these for Lauren Cole, as my copies of the photos are already downsized. The photos were taken by Lauren. She may have more to add.

These are some tiger salamanders of Mexico. For some reason, one never sees photos of them. This is as close as we're likely to come to seeing them. Sorry about the gross-out factor, folks.

Lauren - are all of these species normally neotenic? These are all gilled adults, but are there also terrestrial populations?

Ambystoma dumerilii (3 shots):







Ambystoma andersoni (1 shot):



Ambystoma taylori (2 shots):

Yes Jennewt, they are all neotenic populations. In fact there is some debate about whether they (and all related Mexican ambystomids) should be named A. mexicanum (as that is the oldest name). These specimens are all from the American Museum of Natural History in New York, along with many other unidentified neotenes from Mexico.

Dumerilii is also known as the Lake Patzcuaro Salamander, and has been known since 1870. andersoni and taylori were only named as species in the last quarter century - in 1984 and 1982 respectively. The andersoni, from Zacapú, Mexico, shown here is from the same batch as the holotype, and it's specimen number is actually one before the holotype's. The taylori is from Puebla, Mexico. Tigrinum, (or possibly velasci now), are known from the same area as taylori according to AMNH's amphibian website:
http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/references.php?id=20797

Like the axolotl, they are only known from one lake a piece. The lakes are named both on the AMNH website and in the "Developmental Biology of the Axolotl."

I will have more pictures of velasci larvae and terrestrial mexicanum from Mexico City next week.

(Message edited by Lollia on May 29, 2005)

I found some pictures of live specimen of these species in this book:
T.: Amphibien im Aquarium A.: Hans-Joachim Herrmann
Stuttgart: Ulmer 1994
ISBN 3-8001-7287-9

Unfortunately this book is only available in German.

Still a very awesome set of pictures. Do you know about any genetic testing being done on these populations?

Yes, Genetic testing is being done on at least dumerilii and andersoni. This is only in the past year though. No research had been done on andersoni prior to that, and no such papers have ever been published on taylori.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15780978&query_hl=2

That article concluded that a common ancestor of all the neotenes split off from A. Tigrinum, and that mexicanum and Andersoni have a common ancestor that split off from Dumerilii after that.

(Message edited by Lollia on May 29, 2005)

what is the state of these animals in the wild?

William - I'm not sure that their status is fully known - especially with the relatively recent discovery of 2 of the species. Besides the Neotenes posted above, there are numerous unnamed species from other lakes around Mexico that have not even been described. Their situations are similar to the axolotl, where their range is limited to one lake or so. Fortunately for these other species, no lake could be as bad off as the one under Mexico City.

It has been suggested that A. dumerilii is the same as A. ordinarium, which would mean that that species is spread through more than one locality.

i'd love to go to Mexico to see them for myself.

Interesting pictures. You can find pictures of live Ambystoma andersoni, Ambystoma dumerili, Ambystoma ordinarium, and Ambystoma rivulare in
"Conservation status of the Genus Ambystoma in Michoacan Mexico" by Dolores del Carmen Huacus Elias.

I think going to Mexico to see some in the wild would be interesting but I'm afraid their wouldn't be much to see. Part of the work being done to protect Ambystomids in Mexico is looking into some sort of ecotourism but it think it's in the planning stages.

Michael - where did you find that book? Is it still in print?

Soon I'll post pictures of specimens of A. ordinarium, A. velasci larva and adults, Transformed mexicanum from Mexico City, A. ambycephalum, A. granulosum larva, A. altamirani larva, and a neotenic A. flavipiperatum.

Hi Lauren,
I got it from Biblomania http://www.herplit.com 2 years ago. It was published in 2001 Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Secretaria de Mexico Ambiente y Recursos Naturales isbn 968 817 391 6 If I see an axolotl book I order it. Last week I bought "Synopsis Herpetofauna Mexico Vol 1 Literature Axolotl" by Hobart Smith on ebay. I also have "The International Journal of Developmental Biology Volume 40 No. 4 Developmental Biology of Urodeles" That's a little much for a hobbyist but I can wade through it. My favorite is "Developmental Biology of the Axolotl" by Armstrong and Malacinski. If you know anybody that wants that one I have an extra copy for sale.

When I first started working for the Zoo we had a live specimen of what was supposed to be A.dumerili on exhibit with a regular A. mexicanum. It has since passed away.

Ed