Axolotl Research - HELP!

Would anyone know where to find scholarly resources the Axolotl? This is for a project in an animal behavior course at Johnson State College in Vermont. Our assignment requires us to gather information on three topics: 1] evolution of Axolotl (until it decided to stop itself!), 2] parental care & mating systems, and 3] communication & sensory systems on our assigned animal.
There seems to be plentiful information on the use of the Axolotl in laboratories and as pets but not much on the animal itself. Any direction to research greatly appreciated.

Hi GH,

michael said:

"Developmental Biology of the Axoltl" by Armstrong and Malicinski ISBN 0-19-505073-8

You should be able to pick up a used copy on line for about 50.00

Click to expand...

You might also try "Amphibian Biology" by Duellman / Trueb and "Amphibian Medicine and Captive Husbandry" by Wright / Whitaker.

-Eva

Hi Ghobson,

Eva has recommended three really good references for your research. They are a tad on the heavy reading side though so if you need to ease into something easier to understand, go for the following first. They have relevant chapters on axolotls.

- Simon & Schuster's guide to reptiles and amphibians, by Massimo Capula.

- Newts and Salamanders by Richard D Bartlett.

- Axolotls by Peter W Scott.

Also if you have access to a journal research database, simply key in keywords like axolotl into the search bar. Try Pubmed, Medline, Web of science. You can also try some of the recommended text in the following link.

http://www.caudata.org/index.php?page=links

Cheers

Hi there GH,

I have some scientific literature on axolotls in PDF format, which may have some information you are looking for.

1) Northcutt et al "Development of Lateral Line Organs in the Axolotl" Journal of Comparative Neurology 340 (1994) 480-514

2) Smith "The Mexican Axolotl: Some Misconceptions and Problems" Bioscience 19 (1969) 593-615

3) Shaffer "Phylogenetics of Model Organisms: The laboratory Axolotl, Ambystroma mexicanum" Systematic Biology 42 (1993) 508-522

Unfortunately I can only find these and no other more general, review-like articles probably because they are more than 50 years old. If you are interested in limb-regeneration there are loads of scholarly articles on that as well.

But if any or all of these articles sound interesting to you, just PM me with your email address and I'll be happy to send it to you! Cheers

The international Journal of Developmental Biology Volume 40 No 4 from August 1996 is all about the Developmental Biology of Urodeles. Their is a lot of heavy reading on axolotls in their. I'd be glad to sell my copy for what I paid for it.

The AGSC will sell you a set of CDs of all the old Axolotl Colony newsletters. You can browse for relevant articles here:
http://www.ambystoma.org/AGSC/newsletter.htm
I'm thinking they might be willing to send you specific issues for free if they know it's for a scholarly or educational purpose. Worth asking.